While a typical mobile home insurance policy will protect your home and personal belongings if they're damaged by a covered peril, such as wind or lightning, this coverage generally doesn't extend to water damage caused by flooding. This makes additional flood insurance for your mobile home an important consideration if you live in an area susceptible to flooding or coastal storm surge.
A typical flood insurance policy when purchased for a manufactured home costs an average of $750 annually, according to our analysis of 2023 federal flood insurance rate data from the National Flood Insurance Program. However, mobile homeowners may be able to find a cheaper option by shopping around with insurers who write specialized flood insurance coverage for manufactured homes.
Can you get flood insurance on a mobile home?
Most standard manufactured home insurance policies won't cover water damage caused by natural flooding. This means if your mobile home's structure and possessions inside incur water damage during a flood event, like hurricane storm surge or a flash flood due to heavy rainfall, you'll have to pay for property replacement or repair costs out of pocket.
Fortunately, these costs are covered if you have additional flood insurance coverage — an important consideration for any mobile or modular homeowner in a high-risk flood zone or flood-prone area of Florida, Texas, and other coastal states with a high number of manufactured homes.
Where can I buy flood insurance for a mobile home?
While availability to mobile home flood insurance options can vary depending on where you live, you can generally purchase coverage from one of two sources: the NFIP, which offers policies that are financially backed by the federal government, or a private flood insurance provider, which offers policies that are backed by private insurers.
NFIP | Private flood insurance | |
|---|---|---|
Maximum home rebuild limit | $250,000 | Typically up to $500,000 or higher |
Availability | Participating communities in all 50 states | May be limited in higher-risk areas |
Waiting period | 30 days | As little as two weeks |
Accepted by mortgage lenders | Yes | Yes |
Replacement cost building coverage | Yes | Yes |
Replacement cost contents coverage | No | Yes |
Loss of use coverage | No | Yes |
Loss avoidance coverage (sandbags, etc) | No | Yes |
Debris removal coverage | Yes | Yes |
The National Flood Insurance Program, which is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), offers flood insurance policies in all 50 states to mobile homeowners in NFIP participating communities — to which most residential localities in the U.S. belong. While flood insurance with the NFIP is widely available and generally easy to get approved for, policies come with a 30-day waiting period before coverage takes effect, and policies come with a number of exclusions and other coverage limitations.
Conversely, private flood insurance policies often have no waiting period at all, more robust coverage for personal belongings, and higher deductible policy options to keep rates low. However, private market flood insurance is still relatively new and not as common in most areas as the NFIP plan.
Learn more >> NFIP vs. private flood insurance
Mobile home flood insurance coverage
A standard NFIP policy will cover the costs if your mobile home's structure or personal belongings inside the residence are damaged by flooding. You have the option of purchasing one of these coverages or both on a combined policy.
Here's how each of these coverages works:
Building coverage: Reimburses you for repairs or a new mobile home if the structure of the residence is damaged by flooding. As noted in the table above, the NFIP offers up to $250,000 in building coverage, while private flood insurance policies offer significantly higher maximum limits.
Contents coverage: Covers the cost of repairing or replacing your personal belongings if they're damaged by flooding. The NFIP plan offers up to $100,000 in coverage for your belongings (on a depreciated actual cash value basis), while private flood policies generally have higher maximum personal property coverage limits — and often give you the option of upgrading from actual cash value to replacement cost value claim reimbursements.
Learn more >> What does flood insurance cover?
How much does mobile home flood insurance cost?
The average cost of NFIP flood insurance on a manufactured home is roughly $750 per year, according to our 2023 analysis of FEMA flood insurance policy data. Your flood insurance premiums are generally based on the location and elevation of your mobile home, the cost to rebuild, your out-of-pocket deductible amount (higher equals cheaper rates), and other factors.
Here's the average annual cost of mobile and manufactured home flood insurance in 47 U.S. states, according to our analysis.
State | Average annual cost |
|---|---|
Alaska | $335 |
Alabama | $751 |
Arkansas | $531 |
Arizona | $996 |
California | $854 |
Colorado | $865 |
Delaware | $1,166 |
Florida | $838 |
Georgia | $715 |
Iowa | $654 |
Idaho | $892 |
Illinois | $600 |
Indiana | $904 |
Kansas | $543 |
Kentucky | $683 |
Louisiana | $697 |
Massachusetts | $453 |
Maryland | $786 |
Maine | $925 |
Michigan | $1,231 |
Minnesota | $847 |
Missouri | $613 |
Mississippi | $590 |
Montana | $744 |
North Carolina | $657 |
North Dakota | $486 |
Nebraska | $784 |
New Hampshire | $854 |
New Jersey | $1,057 |
New Mexico | $1,143 |
Nevada | $741 |
New York | $643 |
Ohio | $645 |
Oklahoma | $708 |
Oregon | $837 |
Pennsylvania | $1,261 |
South Carolina | $779 |
South Dakota | $607 |
Tennessee | $675 |
Texas | $703 |
Utah | $398 |
Virginia | $974 |
Vermont | $459 |
Washington | $1,018 |
Wisconsin | $350 |
West Virginia | $695 |
Wyoming | $518 |
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency policy data for 2022 and 2023
Mobile home flood insurance requirements
If your mobile home is located in a high-risk flood zone and you have a mortgage through a federally-regulated lender, you'll likely be required to purchase flood insurance in addition to regular homeowners insurance.
If you don't have a mortgage or your loan is through a private lender, you're not required by law to purchase flood insurance, but you may want to consider doing so anyway.
What type of mobile homes are eligible for flood insurance?
Before you can get flood insurance for your mobile home or tractor trailer, the home must meet the following criteria, according to the NFIP. [1]
The mobile home must be built on a permanent frame and attached to a permanent foundation.
A tractor trailer is only covered if it has its wheels removed, is built on a frame, and is attached to a permanent foundation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get flood insurance on a mobile home in Florida?
If you own a modular or manufactured home in Florida, you can purchase flood insurance coverage as a separate policy through the NFIP or a private market provider, or by additional a flood insurance endorsement to your home insurance (if offered by your insurer).
What is the average cost of mobile home flood insurance in Florida?
The average cost of flood insurance on mobile homes in Florida is $838 per year, according to our analysis of FEMA flood insurance policy premiums for 2022 and 2023. This is around 12% higher than the national average mobile home flood insurance rate, but about 35% cheaper than the average in Pennsylvania — the state with the country's most expensive mobile home insurance, according to our analysis.
