FEMA Records
11
Low volume
California · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
San Francisco County, CA
11 FEMA disaster declarations (1990-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very High. Most common hazard: Severe Storm.
- 11
- FEMA declarations
- 7
- Major disasters
- 100
- NRI risk · Very High
- Severe Storm
- Top hazard
The verdict
San Francisco County has a nationally busy FEMA history: 11 declarations, more than 12% of counties in this registry. But the state comparison tempers that reading: the total is 61% below the California county mean. FEMA's separate National Risk Index places the county in the riskiest 1%; that score models loss and vulnerability rather than counting declarations.
- Riskiest 1%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 11
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 147
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 06075 · San Francisco County 11 declarations · rank 2856/3,266
DECL-MID · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-LOW
- DECL-MID 11
- MAJOR-MID 64%
- RANK-LOWER #2,856
- PHOTO-FINISH Meeker
- NRI-HIGH Very High
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Severe Storm
- VS-ST-LOW -61%
Nearest declaration peer: Meeker, MN (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · California state profile
San Francisco County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among San Francisco County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Davis · near 11
Davis · near
11 declarations
- Meeker · near 11
Meeker · near
11 declarations
- San Francisco · this county 11
San Francisco · this county
11 declarations
- Wasatch · near 11
Wasatch · near
11 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows San Francisco County carries 11 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2856 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
San Francisco County versus quieter counties in this dataset
San Francisco County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · San Francisco County
11 12th percentile higher than 12% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
San Francisco County's FEMA Risk Index score
What does San Francisco County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
The NFIP claims register shows a middle-volume loss record here: 147 paid claims, totaling $2.7M. PlainHazard uses 50-499 claims for this descriptive band; FEMA does not publish it as a safety or coverage category. The $18.1K average describes payments on recorded claims only, leaving uninsured damage and properties without a claim outside the measure.
Start with the state benchmark: a California county averages 28.5 federal declaration records, while San Francisco County has 11. The gap is 61% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 99.5/100 (Very High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Relatively High (roughly $853.4M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Moderate and community resilience Very High, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Earthquake stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at roughly once every 10 years here.
42 /100
Historical Activity Index
Moderate historical activity
San Francisco County, CA · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) Moderate
8/30
11 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.5x national county average)
County Disaster Density Low
5/25
11 declarations (0.4x state county average of 29)
Major Disaster Share High
16/25
7 of 11 declarations are major disasters (64%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in San Francisco County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - San Francisco County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
64%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
100
Very High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike San Francisco County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Very High | roughly once every 10 years |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively High | an average of 1.6 times per year |
| Landslide | Relatively High | roughly once every 5 years |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Moderate | 3.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Tsunami | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 3 years |
| Drought | Relatively Moderate | 26 modeled event-days per year |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 1 years |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | roughly once every 74 years |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | an average of 3.8 times per year |
| Wildfire | Very Low | roughly once every 44,216 years |
| Volcanic Activity | Very Low | roughly once every 10,000 years |
| Hail | Very Low | roughly once every 40 years |
| Strong Wind | Very Low | roughly once every 33 years |
| Winter Weather | Very Low | roughly once every 30,095 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Severe Storm 4
Flood 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
Earthquake 1
What Severe Storm declarations mean here
Severe Storm is the most frequent declaration type on San Francisco County's record, 36% of its declarations. In FEMA's vocabulary this covers convective weather: thunderstorm straight-line winds, large hail, and the multi-day outbreaks that often carry embedded tornadoes. Activity is heaviest in spring and summer, though the season varies by region.
These events behave differently from a hurricane on paper. Damage tends to be distributed along a storm track rather than concentrated on a coastline, and a declaration typically follows an outbreak that crossed several counties over a few days, not a single point of impact. Because the qualifying threshold is the cost of uninsured public and individual losses rather than storm intensity, two similar storms can produce a declaration in one year and none in another.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 7 63.6%
of all 11 declarations
Emergency - 4 36.4%
of all 11 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1995 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 11 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 11 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4699 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 2023-04-03 |
| 3592 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-03-10 |
| 4683 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 2023-01-14 |
| 3591 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | EM | Flood | 2023-01-09 |
| 4482 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-22 |
| 3428 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3248 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-13 |
| 1203 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 1998-02-09 |
| 1155 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUD AND LANDSLIDES | DR | Severe Storm | 1997-01-04 |
| 1046 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING LANDSLIDES, MUD FLOW | DR | Severe Storm | 1995-03-12 |
| 845 | LOMA PRIETA EARTHQUAKE | DR | Earthquake | 1989-10-18 |
Storm Events in California
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to San Francisco County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind | 4,070 | 13 | 27 | $228.2M |
| Flood | 3,132 | 26 | 25 | $985.1M |
| Heavy Snow | 1,814 | 6 | 0 | $1.6M |
| Dense Fog | 1,605 | 52 | 148 | $2.8M |
| Drought | 1,421 | 0 | 0 | $0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
147
Total Paid
$2.7M
Avg Per Claim
$18.1K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very High
Score: 99.5/100
Expected Annual Loss
Relatively High
$853.4M/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Moderate
Community Resilience
Very High
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Earthquake Very High
Riverine Flooding Relatively High
Landslide Relatively High
Heat Wave Relatively Moderate
Tsunami Relatively Moderate
Drought Relatively Moderate
Coastal Flooding Relatively Moderate
Tornado Relatively Low
Lightning Relatively Low
Wildfire Very Low
Volcanic Activity Very Low
Hail Very Low
Strong Wind Very Low
Winter Weather Very Low
Cold Wave No Rating
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Earthquake
Earthquake is the model's clearest example of a hazard with no season and no warning. Its expected loss is driven less by how often shaking occurs than by how much of the building stock predates modern seismic codes, so exposure can be high in places where nothing has happened for a long time.
Worth noting for San Francisco County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Earthquake carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Severe Storm. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
San Francisco County's closest FEMA peer: Clark County, NV
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for San Francisco County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Similar modeled NRI score
San Francisco County: NRI composite 99.5 (Very High).
Similar Major-disaster share
San Francisco County: 7 of 11 of its declarations are Major.
Closest declaration profiles
San Francisco County shows 11 FEMA declarations, led by Severe Storm.
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for San Francisco County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for San Francisco County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 99.5 (Very High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 11. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
San Francisco County's NFIP claims file (147 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in San Francisco County?
The most common disaster type in San Francisco County is Severe Storm, with 4 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (3), Biological (2), Hurricane (1).
How does San Francisco County's FEMA declaration record compare with the California average?
The typical California county has 28.5 FEMA declaration records; San Francisco County has 11, or 61% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 47% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has San Francisco County received?
San Francisco County has received 7 major disaster declarations, representing 64% of all 11 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has San Francisco County filed?
San Francisco County has 147 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $2.7M in payments, with an average of $18.1K per claim.
What was the worst year for disasters in San Francisco County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in San Francisco County was 2023, with 4 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1990 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for San Francisco County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, San Francisco County, California has an overall risk score of 99.5 out of 100 (Very High). Social vulnerability here rates Relatively Moderate, while community resilience comes in at Very High. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Relatively High, representing $853.4M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to San Francisco County?
The top hazard flagged by FEMA's NRI for San Francisco County as of the latest release is Earthquake (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Relatively High) and Landslide (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts earthquake here at roughly once every 10 years. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for San Francisco County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · California profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events