PlainHazard

Original research, PlainHazard editorial

Top 10 US States by Total FEMA Disaster Declarations

See which U.S. states have the most FEMA disaster declarations, ranked from current per-state totals in the OpenFEMA registry.

Research period:

Compiled by PlainHazard Editorial on 2026-08-03

Research question

Across the 50 US states and territories, which jurisdictions have accumulated the highest number of FEMA disaster declarations, and how does declaration frequency correlate with state geography, climate exposure, and population density?

Methodology

We ranked all 50 states and territories by total FEMA disaster declarations, major disasters, emergencies, and each state's most common incident type, then took the top 10. Every number on this page reflects the current data; no figure is hardcoded, and the ranking updates whenever the underlying FEMA dataset is refreshed.

A "declaration" counts a single federal action, not a single storm. FEMA issues three kinds: a Major Disaster (DR) when an event overwhelms state and local capacity and unlocks the widest aid; an Emergency (EM), narrower and often issued ahead of an event; and Fire Management Assistance (FM) for wildfire suppression. One hurricane can generate separate DR and EM declarations, and a state with many small but distinct events can out-rank a state hit by one catastrophic storm. The count therefore reflects federal recognition of need as much as raw hazard frequency.

High-ranking states tend to share three traits: large land area exposed to multiple hazard types, recurring severe weather seasons (wildfire in the West, flooding and tornadoes across the South and Midwest), and active state emergency-management offices that routinely request federal assistance. Because the count is federal-action-driven, it should be read alongside the FEMA National Risk Index, which estimates expected annual loss in dollars, rather than as a standalone measure of how dangerous a state is to live in.

See the methodology page for the source vintage and how the figures are derived.

Top 10 US States by Total FEMA Disaster Declarations

Current data, updated as FEMA publishes new declarations

records
Source Federal Emergency Management Agency As of 2026-08-03

The ranked top 10

The 10 rows below reflect the current data and update automatically as FEMA publishes new declarations.

# State Total declarations Major disasters Emergencies Top incident type
1 California 396 116 18 Fire
2 Texas 389 107 19 Fire
3 Oklahoma 258 99 28 Fire
4 Washington 215 68 10 Fire
5 Florida 188 86 35 Fire
6 Oregon 169 44 4 Fire
7 New Mexico 126 39 17 Fire
8 Arizona 120 37 4 Fire
9 New York 118 85 30 Severe Storm
10 Montana 112 43 5 Fire

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2. Values reflect the current data on this site, refreshed as FEMA updates the underlying dataset. Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2. Values reflect the current data on this site, refreshed as FEMA updates the underlying dataset.

Findings

Top entity in the ranking

The top-ranked state is California, with 396 total declarations. The full top-10 is shown in the table above; no number is hardcoded. When Federal Emergency Management Agency publishes a revision, the ranking and the surrounding text update to match.

Distribution shape

The gap between the top-ranked record (396) and the 10th-ranked record (112) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.

Aggregate context

Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.

Source provenance

The records in this ranking come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries V2. PlainHazard keeps this page in sync with the source data, so there is no stale static export sitting behind the numbers, a new FEMA release propagates to this page within hours. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and how the figures are derived.

Why this ranking matters

Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.

What this analysis cannot tell us

FEMA disaster declarations require a state or tribal government to formally request federal assistance for an incident, and the President of the United States to issue a declaration. The presence or absence of declarations therefore reflects both the underlying hazard exposure of a state and that state's administrative decisions about when to request federal assistance. Smaller-scale damaging events may be handled entirely at the state or local level without a federal declaration, and would not appear in this ranking even though they impose real losses on residents. Declaration counts also weight all declarations equally, a fire-management assistance declaration for a single wildfire and a major-disaster declaration for a multi-county hurricane both count as one declaration in the totals.

Related cut from a separate NOAA extract

Top 10 states by NOAA Storm Events Database count, not the same population as FEMA declarations (different agency, different event definition, 2015–2025 window vs OpenFEMA 1953–present)

records
Source NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database As of 2015–2025

Related data

Sources