States with the most FEMA major disaster declarations

FEMA major disaster (DR) declarations since 1953, 50 states and DC

California has had the most major disaster declarations since 1953 (116), followed by Texas (108) and Oklahoma (99).

The top 15

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. Open the source.

Every row, ranked

FEMA major disaster (DR) declarations since 1953, 50 states and DC
Rank	Name	Major disasters	All declarations	All since 2000
1	California	116	397	324
2	Texas	108	392	220
3	Oklahoma	99	259	207
4	Florida	86	188	109
5	New York	85	118	68
6	Kentucky	82	99	64
7	Louisiana	78	111	67
8	Mississippi	78	99	60
9	Tennessee	78	97	66
10	Missouri	77	88	58
11	Alabama	75	102	54
12	Arkansas	74	89	51
13	Iowa	73	79	46
14	Kansas	73	96	73
15	West Virginia	73	85	53
16	Nebraska	71	88	62
17	Washington	68	223	168
18	Alaska	66	95	68
19	South Dakota	65	98	69
20	Minnesota	63	81	40
21	North Dakota	62	76	49
22	Illinois	59	68	31
23	Virginia	58	77	47
24	North Carolina	57	85	51
25	Vermont	55	62	44
26	Pennsylvania	54	64	28
27	Ohio	53	61	31
28	Maine	52	71	44
29	Georgia	51	81	49
30	New Hampshire	48	63	46
31	Wisconsin	47	56	26
32	Indiana	46	56	30
33	Oregon	44	174	128
34	Montana	43	113	88
35	New Jersey	43	59	37
36	Hawaii	40	75	52
37	New Mexico	39	126	104
38	Arizona	37	120	89
39	Massachusetts	36	59	38
40	Idaho	35	61	41
41	Michigan	35	46	20
42	Maryland	31	38	23
43	South Carolina	29	51	41
44	Colorado	26	112	90
45	Connecticut	26	43	30
46	Nevada	22	116	89
47	Delaware	20	26	17
48	Rhode Island	17	31	21
49	Utah	16	61	53
50	District of Columbia	15	24	20
51	Wyoming	15	45	38

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026.

How this ranking is measured

A major disaster declaration (DR) is the President's declaration that a disaster is beyond a state's capacity, which opens FEMA's broadest assistance. Each DR number is counted once per state. Emergencies (EM) and fire management assistance (FM) are counted in the second column. All incident types count here, including the 2020 COVID-19 declarations (one per state); natural hazards alone are ranked in Which state has the most natural disasters?

The top 15

Every row, ranked

How this ranking is measured

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