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Drought in the United States, by state

The national record since 1996 · Drought

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 85,759 drought records in the United States from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 2,915 a year since 2000. Texas records the most (18,588), Hawaii the most per square mile.

What is a drought? How the National Weather Service files it

Drought is a deficiency of moisture that results in adverse impacts on people, animals, or vegetation over a sizeable area. Conceptually, drought is a protracted period of deficient precipitation resulting in extensive damage to crops, resulting in loss of yield.
National Weather Service Instruction 10-1605, Storm Data Preparation (July 26, 2021), Appendix A, entry 9

Source: National Weather Service Instruction 10-1605. Read the instruction (PDF).

Drought, 1996 to 2026

Records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $10 million
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • $10 billion or more, or 1,000 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
85,7591996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
2,915average
Deaths
0recorded
Damage, 2025 dollars
$29.5BStorm Events, as filed

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Which states have the most drought records?

By count Texas (18,588), Oklahoma (6,658), New Mexico (6,408) lead. Per 10,000 square miles Hawaii (2624), New Jersey (1205), Delaware (1062) lead; large states collect more records by covering more ground.

By count since 1996

  1. Texas 18,588
  2. Oklahoma 6,658
  3. New Mexico 6,408
  4. Georgia 5,192
  5. Nebraska 3,444
  6. Colorado 3,044
  7. Kansas 2,928
  8. Alabama 2,670
  9. Iowa 2,602
  10. Missouri 2,482
  11. South Dakota 2,012
  12. Tennessee 1,967
  13. California 1,870
  14. Arkansas 1,837
  15. Hawaii 1,685

Per 10,000 square miles

  1. Hawaii 2624
  2. New Jersey 1205
  3. Delaware 1062
  4. Oklahoma 971
  5. Georgia 900
  6. Texas 711
  7. New Mexico 528
  8. Alabama 527
  9. Tennessee 477
  10. Iowa 466
  11. Maryland 463
  12. Nebraska 448
  13. West Virginia 384
  14. Missouri 361
  15. Kansas 358

Source: Land area: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles are not ranked per square mile.

Alabama: 527 per 10,000 sq miAlaska: 0.1 per 10,000 sq miArizona: 56 per 10,000 sq miArkansas: 353 per 10,000 sq miCalifornia: 120 per 10,000 sq miColorado: 294 per 10,000 sq miConnecticut: 151 per 10,000 sq miDelaware: 1,062 per 10,000 sq miFlorida: 282 per 10,000 sq miGeorgia: 900 per 10,000 sq miHawaii: 2,624 per 10,000 sq miIdaho: 2.2 per 10,000 sq miIllinois: 286 per 10,000 sq miIndiana: 152 per 10,000 sq miIowa: 466 per 10,000 sq miKansas: 358 per 10,000 sq miKentucky: 259 per 10,000 sq miLouisiana: 328 per 10,000 sq miMaine: 170 per 10,000 sq miMaryland: 463 per 10,000 sq miMassachusetts: 267 per 10,000 sq miMichigan: 9.5 per 10,000 sq miMinnesota: 182 per 10,000 sq miMississippi: 295 per 10,000 sq miMissouri: 361 per 10,000 sq miMontana: 55 per 10,000 sq miNebraska: 448 per 10,000 sq miNew Hampshire: 305 per 10,000 sq miNew Jersey: 1,205 per 10,000 sq miNew Mexico: 528 per 10,000 sq miNew York: 80 per 10,000 sq miNorth Carolina: 340 per 10,000 sq miNorth Dakota: 98 per 10,000 sq miOhio: 102 per 10,000 sq miOklahoma: 971 per 10,000 sq miOregon: 0.7 per 10,000 sq miPennsylvania: 180 per 10,000 sq miRhode Island: 329 per 10,000 sq miSouth Carolina: 276 per 10,000 sq miSouth Dakota: 265 per 10,000 sq miTennessee: 477 per 10,000 sq miTexas: 711 per 10,000 sq miUtah: 123 per 10,000 sq miVermont: 23 per 10,000 sq miVirginia: 215 per 10,000 sq miWashington: 6.0 per 10,000 sq miWest Virginia: 384 per 10,000 sq miWisconsin: 265 per 10,000 sq miWyoming: 0.2 per 10,000 sq mi
  • 0.1-98
  • 98-215
  • 215-305
  • 305-466
  • 466+
Drought per 10,000 square miles by state since 1996. Each class holds about a fifth of the states; Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets, not to scale.

Every state

Drought risk by state: FEMA's model

The record above counts what happened. FEMA's National Risk Index estimates what each state can expect to lose to drought in an average year, from history, exposure and vulnerability: California carries the largest expected annual loss ($1.0B), then Texas and Iowa.

  1. California $1.0B
  2. Texas $411M
  3. Iowa $223M
  4. Nebraska $103M
  5. Kansas $101M
  6. Oklahoma $96M
  7. Illinois $83M
  8. Virginia $76M
  9. Georgia $55M
  10. Louisiana $53M
  11. Missouri $47M
  12. New Mexico $43M
  13. Mississippi $39M
  14. Minnesota $34M
  15. North Carolina $29M

Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), county expected annual loss summed by state; a model, not a count. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

When is drought season?

Drought by month, nationally. The busiest month is September.

The values, month by month

Jan 5,845 · Feb 5,684 · Mar 6,125 · Apr 6,564 · May 6,297 · Jun 6,259 · Jul 7,195 · Aug 8,970 · Sep 9,007 · Oct 8,800 · Nov 8,151 · Dec 6,862 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest drought records since 1993

The 8 most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2014-12-01 DroughtCalaveras County and 2 more, CA · forecast zone Northern San Joaquin Valley 0 0 $1.9B
2011-06-01 DroughtLubbock County, TX · forecast zone Lubbock 0 0 $1.6B
2006-01-01 DroughtMontague County, TX · forecast zone Montague 0 0 $1.5B
2007-06-01 DroughtWarren County, MS · forecast zone Warren One storm episode: 44 records in 43 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $1.0B
2012-09-01 DroughtChampaign County, IL · forecast zone Champaign One storm episode: 27 records in 27 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $959M
1998-07-06 DroughtChoctaw County, OK · forecast zone Choctaw 0 0 $905M
1999-07-01 DroughtPotter County, PA · forecast zone Potter 0 0 $886M
2000-11-01 DroughtParmer County, TX · forecast zone Parmer 0 0 $883M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

What the record files under drought

NOAA event types in this group
Event typeRecordsYearsKilledDamage
Drought85,7591996-20260$29.5B

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, event types as defined in NWS Instruction 10-1605.

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