Which state has the most natural disasters?
FEMA declarations for natural incidents since 1953, 50 states and DC
California has the most FEMA declarations for natural disasters since 1953 (389), but 299 of them (77%) are fire declarations, 263 of those fire management assistance (federal help to fight a fire, not a major disaster). Counting major disasters alone, California leads (111); counting NOAA's billion-dollar disasters of 1980-2024, Texas leads (190). That is why lists of the "most disaster-prone state" disagree: each counts a different thing. By storm events NOAA recorded since 1996, Texas leads (134,373).
The top 15
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026; NOAA NCEI billion-dollar disasters by state, 1980-2024; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through June 30, 2026. Open the source.
Every row, ranked
| Rank | Name | Declarations | Fires | Major | Per million | $1B+ disasters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 389 | 299 (77%) | 111 | 10 | 46 |
| 2 | Texas | 386 | 272 (70%) | 106 | 13 | 190 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 240 | 139 (58%) | 97 | 61 | 115 |
| 4 | Washington | 219 | 155 (71%) | 66 | 28 | 36 |
| 5 | Florida | 181 | 69 (38%) | 83 | 8 | 94 |
| 6 | Oregon | 171 | 129 (75%) | 42 | 40 | 41 |
| 7 | Arizona | 117 | 82 (70%) | 35 | 16 | 34 |
| 8 | Nevada | 114 | 90 (79%) | 21 | 37 | 27 |
| 9 | New Mexico | 113 | 75 (66%) | 38 | 53 | 38 |
| 10 | Colorado | 109 | 86 (79%) | 24 | 19 | 76 |
| 11 | Montana | 109 | 68 (62%) | 41 | 101 | 37 |
| 12 | New York | 109 | 4 (4%) | 83 | 5 | 95 |
| 13 | Louisiana | 105 | 5 (5%) | 76 | 23 | 106 |
| 14 | Alabama | 98 | 9 (9%) | 73 | 20 | 116 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 95 | 8 (8%) | 80 | 21 | 92 |
| 16 | Mississippi | 95 | 0 (0%) | 76 | 32 | 108 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 94 | 11 (12%) | 77 | 14 | 116 |
| 18 | South Dakota | 93 | 27 (29%) | 64 | 105 | 36 |
| 19 | Kansas | 90 | 14 (16%) | 72 | 31 | 102 |
| 20 | Alaska | 89 | 30 (34%) | 62 | 122 | 8 |
| 21 | Arkansas | 87 | 2 (2%) | 73 | 29 | 97 |
| 22 | Missouri | 86 | 1 (1%) | 76 | 14 | 120 |
| 23 | North Carolina | 83 | 10 (12%) | 56 | 8 | 121 |
| 24 | Nebraska | 82 | 10 (12%) | 70 | 42 | 66 |
| 25 | West Virginia | 82 | 3 (4%) | 72 | 46 | 47 |
| 26 | Georgia | 79 | 14 (18%) | 50 | 7 | 134 |
| 27 | Iowa | 76 | 0 (0%) | 72 | 24 | 86 |
| 28 | Minnesota | 76 | 10 (13%) | 62 | 13 | 62 |
| 29 | Virginia | 74 | 8 (11%) | 56 | 9 | 116 |
| 30 | North Dakota | 73 | 4 (5%) | 61 | 94 | 24 |
| 31 | Hawaii | 71 | 29 (41%) | 37 | 49 | 2 |
| 32 | Illinois | 66 | 0 (0%) | 58 | 5 | 128 |
| 33 | Maine | 66 | 2 (3%) | 50 | 48 | 19 |
| 34 | Pennsylvania | 62 | 0 (0%) | 53 | 5 | 114 |
| 35 | New Hampshire | 61 | 2 (3%) | 47 | 44 | 21 |
| 36 | Vermont | 60 | 0 (0%) | 54 | 93 | 19 |
| 37 | Idaho | 59 | 26 (44%) | 34 | 32 | 32 |
| 38 | Utah | 59 | 42 (71%) | 15 | 18 | 25 |
| 39 | Ohio | 57 | 0 (0%) | 51 | 5 | 105 |
| 40 | New Jersey | 55 | 4 (7%) | 42 | 6 | 75 |
| 41 | Indiana | 54 | 0 (0%) | 45 | 8 | 100 |
| 42 | Wisconsin | 54 | 1 (2%) | 46 | 9 | 63 |
| 43 | Massachusetts | 52 | 4 (8%) | 34 | 7 | 45 |
| 44 | South Carolina | 49 | 7 (14%) | 28 | 10 | 101 |
| 45 | Wyoming | 42 | 28 (67%) | 14 | 73 | 32 |
| 46 | Connecticut | 41 | 1 (2%) | 25 | 11 | 45 |
| 47 | Michigan | 40 | 1 (3%) | 33 | 4 | 60 |
| 48 | Maryland | 36 | 0 (0%) | 30 | 6 | 85 |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 26 | 1 (4%) | 16 | 24 | 33 |
| 50 | Delaware | 24 | 0 (0%) | 19 | 24 | 35 |
| 51 | District of Columbia | 19 | 0 (0%) | 14 | 28 | 0 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026; NOAA NCEI billion-dollar disasters by state, 1980-2024; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through June 30, 2026.
How this ranking is measured
Natural disasters are counted from FEMA declarations: each disaster number once per state since 1953, of every kind (major disaster, emergency, fire management assistance), for natural incident types only; biological (COVID-19), chemical, terrorist, human-caused, toxic-substance, dam or levee, fishing-loss and other declarations are left out. Because fire management assistance declarations are frequent and smaller, the table also counts major disasters alone and NOAA's billion-dollar disasters, and the storm events NOAA recorded since 1996. Per million residents uses FEMA National Risk Index population. Columns: natural declarations; of them fire declarations; major disasters (DR) for natural incidents; natural declarations per million residents; NOAA billion-dollar disasters affecting the state, 1980-2024.