How much does flood insurance cost? (2024)

A standard home insurance policy doesn't cover water damage causing by flooding, which means you'll need separate flood insurance to get reimbursed in the event that your house is flooded. Some mortgage lenders may actually require you to purchase flood insurance if your home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), which are areas with a high-to-extreme risk of flooding.

While flood insurance may seem like just another useless homeownership cost, it's become an increasingly necessary piece of financial protection for homeowners throughout the country given the increased frequency of severe coastal and inland flood events. Learn about how much flood insurance costs in your state, ZIP code, and flood zone, as well as different strategies to keep your rates down.

How much is flood insurance?

The average cost of flood insurance is $74 a month or $888 per year, according to a Policygenius analysis of 2023 policyholder data released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). [1] This analysis is based on the average policy cost with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) — which provides the vast majority of flood insurance policies in the U.S. — however, it doesn't take into account what homeowners might pay for private flood insurance (which isn't backed by the federal government).

Average cost of flood insurance by state

Depending on your state, average annual flood insurance costs can range anywhere from $400 to $1,600, with states on the East Coast currently paying the most. Here's the average cost of flood insurance in each state (plus Washington, D.C.) for a single-family home in 2023, according to FEMA.

State	Average annual cost	Average monthly cost
Alabama	$927	$77
Alaska	$454	$38
Arizona	$825	$69
Arkansas	$849	$71
California	$901	$75
Colorado	$860	$72
Connecticut	$1,590	$133
Delaware	$874	$73
Florida	$958	$80
Georgia	$791	$66
Hawaii	$1,437	$120
Idaho	$862	$72
Illinois	$1,039	$87
Indiana	$917	$76
Iowa	$867	$72
Kansas	$870	$73
Kentucky	$1,060	$88
Louisiana	$813	$68
Maine	$953	$79
Maryland	$608	$51
Massachusetts	$1,269	$106
Michigan	$811	$68
Minnesota	$943	$79
Mississippi	$858	$71
Missouri	$978	$82
Montana	$899	$75
Nebraska	$824	$69
Nevada	$715	$60
New Hampshire	$1,216	$101
New Jersey	$1,081	$90
New Mexico	$891	$74
New York	$1,184	$99
North Carolina	$791	$66
North Dakota	$798	$67
Ohio	$883	$74
Oklahoma	$876	$73
Oregon	$936	$78
Pennsylvania	$1,075	$90
Rhode Island	$1,062	$89
South Carolina	$798	$66
South Dakota	$937	$78
Tennessee	$887	$74
Texas	$776	$65
Utah	$645	$54
Vermont	$1,197	$100
Virginia	$743	$62
Washington	$918	$76
Washington, D.C.	$404	$34
West Virginia	$1,133	$94
Wisconsin	$878	$73
Wyoming	$907	$76

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Source: FEMA

Average flood insurance rates by flood zone

Flood insurance premiums can vary substantially depending on which flood zone you live in. Homeowners in SFHAs where flood insurance is generally required by lenders, such as zone AE, pay around 59% more on average than homeowners in moderate-to-low risk areas.

Homeowners in undetermined risk areas, which are typically rural areas where a flood hazard analysis has not yet been conducted by FEMA, pay 35% more on average than homeowners in high-risk areas.

Here's how average flood insurance rates compare in each flood zone.

Source: FEMA

The cheapest states for flood insurance

With an average rate of $404 per year, Washington, D.C. has the cheapest flood insurance in the U.S., followed by Alaska, Maryland, Utah, and Nevada.

1. Washington, D.C.: $404

2. Alaska: $454

3. Maryland: $608

4. Utah: $645

5. Nevada: $715

Most expensive states for flood insurance

Connecticut's average flood insurance rate of $1,590 per year is the most expensive of any state, followed by Massachusetts, Hawaii, New York, and Rhode Island.

1. Connecticut: $1,590

2. Hawaii: $1,437

3. Massachusetts: $1,269

4. New Hampshire: $1,216

5. Vermont: $1,197

Compare flood insurance rates by ZIP code

Food insurance prices can vary substantially depending on which ZIP code, as a home's base flood elevation and other factors that impact rates can differ from neighborhood to neighborhood and even block to block.

We calculated average flood insurance rates for around 14,000 U.S. ZIP codes with at least five active NFIP policies, as well as how this amount compares to the overall average in the state for each ZIP code.

Type in your ZIP code below to see the average cost of flood insurance where you live. 

5 factors that impact the cost of flood insurance

There are multiple factors that the NFIP and private flood insurance companies use to calculate your flood insurance rates, including your home's location, characteristics (like its foundation type), and the home's replacement cost value, which is based on how much it'd cost to rebuild your home from the ground up in the event of a disaster.

Here’s a look at the different factors that affect flood insurance prices.

Flood risk in your location

Your flood insurance rates hinge primarily on your home's location and how susceptible it is to being flooded. If your house is near a large body of water or in an SFHA, meaning a high-risk flood zone with at least a 26% chance of flooding during the course of a 30-year mortgage, you’ll likely pay significantly more than if you lived in a moderate- to low-risk area. 

Home characteristics

Flood insurance costs are also based on various details about your home, such as its foundation type (like if you have a basement or crawlspace), its age, and whether appliances and other property inside the home is above the base flood elevation (BFE). Homes with finished basements, lots of property below the BFE, or that aren't retrofit with flood mitigation features are likely going to cost more to insure. 

Coverage limits

The more coverage you need to replace your home or personal possessions, the higher your flood insurance premiums will be. The NFIP provides up to $250,000 in building coverage to cover damage to your home’s structure and any built-in systems or appliances. You also have the option of purchasing up to $100,000 in contents coverage for your personal belongings, such as clothing and furniture. If you opt for private flood insurance, you may have access to higher limits of coverage for both your home and your belongings.

Deductible level

Your policy deductible is the amount you’re responsible for paying before your flood insurance will cover the rest of the damage. Choosing a higher deductible can lower your rates, but increases the out-of-pocket amount you need to pay when you make a claim.

Where are flood insurance rates increasing the most under Risk Rating 2.0?

In October 2021, FEMA completely overhauled how it determines NFIP flood insurance prices by introducing a new pricing methodology called Risk Rating 2.0. The changes increased the cost of flood insurance on roughly 77% of existing NFIP policies.

According to FEMA, Risk Rating 2.0 incorporates more flood risk variables -- such as the property's replacement value and the likelihood of flash floods and other types of flooding that weren't considered before -- rather than the legacy rating system which only considered the home's flood zone and larger bodies of water. [2]

The agency claims that the new rates will be more equitable and that premiums will be more closely aligned with a property's actual flood risk. However, it also means that a substantial number of policyholders all over the country are going to see their rates skyrocket for the foreseeable future until each policy reaches its "risk-based cost" according to the new rating system. Federal law states that the NFIP can't increase rates more than 18% in any given year, so it will likely take a number of years for the risk-based cost of many policies to be fully realized.

According to a 2023 report from the Congressional Research Service, FEMA estimates that 50% of current NFIP policies will be at their full risk rate after five years, while 90% will reach their full risk-based cost after 10 years. [3]

With existing NFIP flood insurance policies set to see an average rate increase of 51% nationally in the next 10 years, from the current average of $888 to the average risk-based cost of $1,808, certain states will likely see their average premiums surge more than others.

Here's the states where flood insurance is set to increase the most in the next five to 10 years.

State	Average annual risk-based cost	Difference from current cost (%)
Maine	$2,700	183%
West Virginia	$3,074	171%
Hawaii	$3,653	154%
Mississippi	$2,137	149%
Louisiana	$1,904	134%
Florida	$2,213	131%
Alabama	$2,051	121%
South Dakota	$2,062	120%
Oregon	$1,969	110%
New Hampshire	$2,545	109%
Missouri	$2,038	108%
Kentucky	$2,201	108%
New Jersey	$2,129	97%
Minnesota	$1,832	94%
Washington	$1,782	94%
Iowa	$1,679	94%
Oklahoma	$1,683	92%
South Carolina	$1,531	92%
Pennsylvania	$2,060	92%
Colorado	$1,644	91%
Idaho	$1,633	90%
Connecticut	$3,000	89%
Vermont	$2,248	88%
Tennessee	$1,664	88%
California	$1,689	87%
Arkansas	$1,583	87%
New York	$2,197	86%
Montana	$1,656	84%
Wyoming	$1,669	84%
Texas	$1,405	81%
Kansas	$1,569	80%
Arizona	$1,443	75%
North Carolina	$1,363	72%
Delaware	$1,497	71%
Georgia	$1,332	68%
North Dakota	$1,342	68%
Massachusetts	$2,097	65%
Illinois	$1,697	63%
Nebraska	$1,323	61%
Wisconsin	$1,331	52%
New Mexico	$1,344	51%
Indiana	$1,361	48%
Utah	$953	48%
Ohio	$1,303	48%
Virginia	$1,077	45%
Nevada	$1,031	44%
Rhode Island	$1,503	41%
Michigan	$1,068	32%
Maryland	$742	22%
Alaska	$543	20%
District of Columbia	$407	1%

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Learn more >> How will Risk Rating 2.0 impact flood insurance rates where you live?

Do I need flood insurance?

Since most homeowners insurance policies don’t cover water damage from flooding, you’ll want to consider flood insurance if your house is in an area at risk of flooding. If you don’t have flood insurance and your home gets flooded, you’ll have to pay for repairs and new belongings out of your own pocket. Flood insurance is also typically required if your home is in a high-risk flood zone and you have a federally backed mortgage.  

However, a startling number of homeowners who should have flood insurance are uninsured, according to our analysis. 

Of the roughly 7 million housing units located in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), the highest flood risk designation, just 21% of those homes have flood insurance. [4] [5]

The table below provides a state-by-state breakdown of this finding.

State	Estimated SFHA homes	Estimated uninsured SFHA homes	Estimated percentage of uninsured SFHA homes
Alabama	128,846	113,345	88.0%
Alaska	8,271	7,303	88.3%
Arizona	99,388	87,064	87.6%
Arkansas	82,189	75,705	92.1%
California	388,325	307,591	79.2%
Colorado	43,615	39,571	90.7%
Connecticut	86,907	75,573	87.0%
Delaware	34,713	25,114	72.3%
District of Columbia	3,465	3,260	94.1%
Florida	1,893,920	1,389,972	73.4%
Georgia	231,038	205,089	88.8%
Hawaii	46,243	40,635	87.9%
Idaho	17,047	15,024	88.1%
Illinois	118,485	105,161	88.8%
Indiana	121,354	113,422	93.5%
Iowa	40,825	37,371	91.5%
Kansas	44,039	41,505	94.2%
Kentucky	90,049	80,197	89.1%
Louisiana	247,341	88,224	35.7%
Maine	17,904	15,715	87.8%
Maryland	56,411	43,318	76.8%
Massachusetts	181,393	166,470	91.8%
Michigan	140,620	131,859	93.8%
Minnesota	56,622	54,542	96.3%
Mississippi	145,578	125,269	86.0%
Missouri	76,393	69,179	90.6%
Montana	15,824	14,661	92.7%
Nebraska	39,982	36,260	90.7%
Nevada	31,772	26,337	82.9%
New Hampshire	37,073	34,805	93.9%
New Jersey	230,313	142,352	61.8%
New Mexico	41,125	34,994	85.1%
New York	269,165	214,888	79.8%
North Carolina	225,079	172,863	76.8%
North Dakota	22,977	21,471	93.4%
Ohio	159,918	149,084	93.2%
Oklahoma	90,510	86,605	95.7%
Oregon	59,125	50,107	84.7%
Pennsylvania	160,839	144,530	89.9%
Rhode Island	29,053	25,684	88.4%
South Carolina	196,450	127,900	65.1%
South Dakota	18,781	17,821	94.9%
Tennessee	92,805	83,631	90.1%
Texas	611,937	482,059	78.8%
Utah	11,108	10,625	95.7%
Vermont	13,564	12,391	91.4%
Virginia	153,168	120,385	78.6%
Washington	29,863	17,124	57.3%
West Virgina	62,339	55,395	88.9%
Wisconsin	112,100	107,925	96.3%
Wyoming	5,317	4,845	91.1%

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The percentage of uninsured homes in SFHAs is the ratio of the number of active NFIP policies (as of October 2021) to total housing units in SFHAs in each state based on NYU Furman Center’s ‘Housing in the U.S. Floodplains’ study.

How to save money on flood insurance

There are several steps you can take to mitigate your home’s flood risk and also lower your flood insurance rates. According to FEMA, these are the most effective ways to lower your flood insurance rates. [6]

• Floodproof your house. Elevating your house, moving water heaters and other home systems to higher ground, filling in basements and crawl spaces, and installing flood openings or barriers in your home can all lead to lower flood insurance rates. 

• Increase your policy deductible. Setting your deductible at the $10,000 maximum can reduce your rates by as much as 40%, according to FEMA. Before increasing your deductible, make sure it’s set to an amount you can afford.  

• Community-wide discounts. If your community is enrolled in the NFIP’s Community Rating System, you’re eligible for a discount of anywhere from 5% to 45%. You can visit FEMA’s Community Rating System page to see if your community participates. 

• Use an elevation certificate. An elevation certificate (EC) is a document that details your home’s flood risk. If you have an EC and it can prove that your home is above the Base Flood Elevation in your community, that could help lower your rates.

Is private flood insurance cheaper than NFIP insurance?

The private flood insurance market is getting bigger, and that may be better for flood insurance rates, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Milliman. The study looked at three states that account for over 50% of NFIP policies — Florida, Texas, and Louisiana — and found that an overwhelming number of homes in each state could see cheaper rates with private flood insurance.

Learn more >> The best flood insurance companies in the U.S.

Methodology

To find the average cost of flood insurance in each state and flood zone across the U.S., Policygenius analyzed the latest available NFIP premium data released by FEMA for every state and over 14,000 ZIP codes in the U.S.