What Is the Average Cost of Flood Insurance in the U.S.?

Flood insurance has a median cost of $65.60 per month throughout the United States but prices can vary significantly depending on the risk of flooding in your area, the stability and elevation of your house and the coverage types and limits you select for your policy. The majority of flood insurance policyholders are covered through the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), though many homeowners are instead insured by private carriers.^[1]

Continue reading to see how much flood insurance costs in each state and what steps you may be able to take to lower your flood insurance premium.

On This Page

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  What Factors Impact Flood Insurance Costs?

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  How Much Does Flood Insurance Cost in the U.S. on Average?

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  How To Lower Flood Insurance Costs

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  Are There Ways To Get an Accurate Flood Insurance Quote?

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  Is Flood Insurance Worth It?

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  FAQs

What Factors Impact Flood Insurance Costs?

In the following sections, you’ll see a rundown of the major factors that impact the cost of flood insurance.

Location

Multiple factors related to the location of your home can impact your average flood insurance cost including its proximity to a water source and its exposure to various types of floods.^[2] The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses flood maps to assess the flood risk associated with a given region.

Homeowners in higher-risk areas are more likely to file a flood insurance claim and may have to pay more for coverage as a result.

Regions marked on FEMA maps with the letter A or V are high-risk flood zones, meaning they are considered to have at least a 25% chance of experiencing a flood within a period of 30 years. Meanwhile, flood zones marked with the letter B, C or X are considered to have a moderate to low risk of incurring flood damage. Notably, policyholders in moderate-to-low-risk flood zones account for over 20% of NFIP claims.^[3]

Property Characteristics

Flood insurance prices can depend on the characteristics of your property such as the age of your home, the design of its structure and the extent to which it is elevated. NFIP policies also take the cost of rebuilding your home into account, with owners of higher-value homes generally paying more for flood coverage than owners of lower-value homes.^[2]

Policy Details

The cost of your flood insurance policy is impacted by several policy details like the coverage types and limits included in the policy and the deductibles you select.^[2] Flood insurance backed by the NFIP can include two separately sold coverage types: building coverage for the structure of your home and contents coverage for your personal belongings.^[4] Naturally, it will cost more to purchase both coverage types as opposed to just one or the other.

Your premiums will also depend on the maximum payout you can expect in the event of a total loss. NFIP policies will pay out a maximum of $250,000 for building claims and $100,000 for contents claims, although privately underwritten flood insurance policies may come with higher coverage limits.^[5]

Finally, the cost of coverage is influenced by your deductible, which is the amount of money you have to pay out of pocket before your insurer will contribute any money toward a covered claim. In general, higher deductibles correlate to lower premiums because your insurance company will be on the hook for a smaller portion of the costs whenever you file a claim. Keep in mind that NFIP building and contents claims require separate deductibles.^[4]

How Much Does Flood Insurance Cost in the U.S. on Average?

Flood insurance backed by the NFIP has a median cost of $786 per year across the United States as of September 2023.^[6] However, coverage can be up to 50% cheaper if you buy flood insurance from a private insurance company that underwrites its own policies.^[5]

Check out the table below to see the median rates for government-backed flood insurance in every American state, federal district and inhabited territory where NFIP policies are in force.^[6]

You should note that FEMA began implementing a new pricing method known as Risk Rating 2.0 in 2021 with the aim of providing quotes that match the flood risk and replacement cost of individual homes more precisely.^[7] If all premiums were currently set at their full risk-based actuarial value, then the median price of flood insurance would be $1,290 per year.^[6]

This means that, although federal law generally prevents someone’s NFIP insurance rates from increasing by more than 18% per year, policyholders may see their premiums go up at a steady pace for many years until the nationwide median cost of flood insurance has risen by several hundred dollars.^[6]

How To Lower Flood Insurance Costs

There are various steps you may be able to take to earn discounts and save money on NFIP coverage such as the following:^[8]

• Elevate your utilities: One way to potentially earn a discount is to relocate utilities like your heating and cooling systems, water heaters and electrical panels to an attic, an elevated platform or somewhere else that isn’t on the ground so they are less likely to be damaged by a flood.
• Install flood openings in your crawl space: If your crawl space doesn’t already have them, consider adding openings no more than one foot off the ground to help drain floodwaters that start to build up under your home.
• Fill in your basement: A homeowner in a high-risk area could save 15% to 20% on their flood insurance premiums by moving into a house without a basement or filling in their existing basement.
• Raise your entire home: If possible, you may want to consider elevating the entire structure of your home to significantly lower your flood insurance costs. You may qualify for additional discounts for every foot your home is raised off the ground, potentially leading to hundreds of dollars in savings.
• Move to a new area: In the event that you exhaust all other options, you may find that you can only get flood insurance at an affordable rate by moving to a new home in a lower-risk area.
• Increase your deductible: Higher deductibles typically lead to lower premiums, though you should make sure you have enough money in savings to cover the deductibles for both your building and contents policies in case you need to file a claim.
• Obtain an elevation certificate: Elevation Certificates (ECs) provide detailed insights into your home’s flood risk by comparing the elevation of the structure to the estimated height of floodwater. An insurance agent can help you determine whether your home’s EC includes information that could lead to a discounted flood insurance rate.
• See if your community qualifies for a discount: Communities enrolled in the NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS) may qualify for discounted premiums based on their flood damage mitigation efforts. As a result, it may be beneficial to see whether your community already participates in the CRS or if there are steps you and your neighbors could take to lower your collective exposure to flood damage.

Are There Ways To Get an Accurate Flood Insurance Quote?

One way to find out if you’re getting the best possible deal on flood insurance is to compare quotes from multiple insurance carriers as private companies may have unique underwriting methods that produce different rates from the NFIP. That said, it’s important to note that many private insurers sell and administer government-funded NFIP policies.

As a result, you should be sure to clarify whether a flood insurance company underwrites its own policies before you request a quote from it since you won’t receive unique quotes if you exclusively shop from insurance providers that partner with FEMA.

Is Flood Insurance Worth It?

Flood insurance is generally a worthwhile investment, especially if you live in an area with a moderate to high risk of flooding. From 2016 to 2022, the NFIP paid out more than $66,000 per claim on average.^[9] Since flooding is not covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy, you could end up on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage without a flood insurance policy.

Keep in mind that flood insurance is required by law if you live in a high-risk flood zone and have a government-backed mortgage or have received federal disaster aid in the past and want to be considered for future disaster aid if necessary. In addition, your mortgage lender could require you to maintain flood insurance regardless of whether you live in a high-risk area.^[10]