Hurricane Insurance Statistics

Millions of homes are at risk of hurricanes which are becoming more frequent, more intense, and impacting larger areas due to climate change.

Armed with facts about hurricanes, homeowners can make better informed decisions about where to buy a home and what type of insurance to seek.

Hurricane damage is not covered by standard homeowners insurance. In fact, "hurricane insurance" doesn't exist. To cover hurricane risks, homeowners in hazardous areas should purchase a combination of windstorm insurance and flood insurance.

Read on for a roundup of the areas most at risk of hurricane damage and tips for shopping for homeowners insurance with hurricane risks in mind.

Key findings

• New York City has the most homes at risk of hurricane damage: 786,000 single-family homes and 109,000 multi-family homes.
• Eight out of the top 10 counties at risk of hurricane damage are in Florida.
• Homeowners insurance doesn't cover hurricane damage. There is no "hurricane insurance" available for homeowners. Instead, homeowners at risk of hurricane damage need to purchase a combination of windstorm insurance and flood insurance.

Hurricane insurance statistics by city

The cities most at risk of hurricane damage are concentrated on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, where powerful storms consistently make landfall.

Hurricanes generate two primary types of risks for homes:

• Storm surge leading to severe flooding
• Wind damage

Hurricanes are causing larger insured losses for two reasons: climate change increasing the chances of more severe storms and more Americans moving to at-risk coastal areas, bringing demand for housing with them.

Hurricane insurance: Storm surge risk by city

The cities most at risk of storm surge include: New York, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, and Virginia Beach, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Those cities have hundreds of thousands of single-family homes at risk of storm surge and estimated reconstruction costs of over a hundred billion dollars respectively.

Measuring storm surge risk by multi-family homes in danger yields different results for the most at-risk cities.

New York and Miami remain the top two most at-risk cities, followed by Boston, Tampa, and Cape Coral.

Storm surge can cause flood damage, which is not covered by homeowners insurance but through separately purchased flood insurance.

Hurricane insurance: Wind risk by city

Millions of single-family homes are at risk of wind damage from hurricanes, including in New York City, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

In New York City alone, 3.8 million homes are exposed to hurricane wind damage with an estimated reconstruction cost of $1.9 trillion, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

New York City also has the most multi-family homes at risk of hurricane wind damage, followed by Washington D.C., Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia.

Homeowners in at-risk areas should purchase windstorm insurance, which can either be bought as an add-on to homeowners insurance or a separate policy.

Hurricane risk by county

Harris County, Texas has the highest hurricane risk index score from FEMA. Eight out of the top 10 counties at risk of hurricane damage are in Florida, with Charleston County, South Carolina being the only other exception.

FEMA Risk Index scores show the percentage of counties for which a county's hazard rating is higher. For example, Miami-Dade County in Florida has a higher hurricane risk index than 99.96% of all counties.

FEMA determines risk by incorporating factors including the expected annual economic loss from natural hazards, how vulnerable social groups are to the impacts of natural hazards, and how resilient and prepared communities are to deal with natural hazards.

The costliest hurricanes

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest hurricane, with an estimated insured loss of $89.7 trillion dollars, per the Insurance Information Institute.

Nine of the 10 costliest hurricanes have come since 2000, and six occurred after 2010.

How to get insured for hurricanes

Homeowners in hurricane-prone areas can take the following steps to get insured and prepared:

• Check to see if your homeowners insurance policy covers wind damage. Most policies will but some in high risk areas may exclude windstorm damage.
• Purchase separate windstorm protection if necessary.
• Purchase flood insurance either through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private flood insurance provider if available.

Sources

• Insurance Information Institute. "Facts + Statistics: Hurricanes."
• Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Historical Flood Risk and Costs."