Illinois
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Illinois

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 21,079 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $1,110, and half of them fall between $786 (Q1) and $1,515 (Q3).

With 21,079 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Illinois has the 17th most of 53 States and territories. Of the 4 zones listed (AE, X, A, AH), zone AE has the highest median premium ($1,260) and zone X the lowest ($959). No coastal V or VE zone is listed. The median NFIP premium in Illinois, $1,110, is 5.2% above the national median ($1,055); it is the 17th highest of 53 States and territories.

By flood zone

Policies in force by year

Base of each count: the yearly figures are FEMA API counts of residential policy terms, every premium included; the median and quartiles rest on the policies effective 2025 with a positive policyCost. For 2025 both bases count 21,079 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Illinois

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 4,048 paid claims; median $9,599, half of them between $3,861 (Q1) and $24,212 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $11,687, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

With 4,048 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Illinois has the 15th most of 53 States and territories. The paid claims are spread over the years (year of loss 2015-2024): the busiest, 2019, holds 21.8% of them.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 20 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Illinois, 19 of them major disaster declarations.

Illinois counts 20 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) since 2000, the 16th fewest of 53 States and territories. Severe Storm declarations are the most frequent (13), ahead of Flood (6) and Hurricane (1).

Latest declarations

• DR-4819: SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODNG (Flood, 2024-09-20)
• DR-4749: SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (Flood, 2023-11-20)
• DR-4728: SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2023-08-15)
• DR-4676: SEVERE STORM AND FLOODING (Flood, 2022-10-14)
• DR-4461: SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (Flood, 2019-09-19)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 308,602 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Illinois after disasters of every declared type; inspected damage is FEMA’s assessment for its assistance program, not repair cost.

Disasters with the most inspections

• DR-1935, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2010-08-19): 97,773 inspections
• DR-4728, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2023-08-15): 59,738 inspections
• DR-4116, SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING (declared 2013-05-10): 59,016 inspections
• DR-1800, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2008-10-03): 34,205 inspections
• DR-4819, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODNG (declared 2024-09-20): 31,410 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 1,016 NFIP communities in Illinois: 898 participate in the NFIP and 77 (7.6%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 2 (Ottawa, City of): FEMA applies its CRS discount to the full-risk premium of Regular Program NFIP policies in that community, inside or outside the SFHA, not to the whole state; a policy can be excluded if its building does not comply with local floodplain rules. The oldest flood map still in effect in Illinois dates from 1974-06-07 (Bardolph, Village of). 118 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 118 carry a sanction, 11 coded as a suspension and 3 as a withdrawal.

In Illinois, 9.3% of the Status Book’s communities span several counties or match no county by name, so community counts by county are partial there.

Questions about flood insurance in Illinois

How much is flood insurance in Illinois?

NFIP policyholders in Illinois paid a median of $1,110 for residential policies effective 2025 (21,079 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $786 and $1,515; $1,228 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $959 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Illinois had?

4,048 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $9,599; the year with the most was 2019 (881), and the named event with the most was Early winter storms (237). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Illinois in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Illinois (policies effective 2025), 14,197 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 6,876 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, A, AH), but these aggregates cannot tell the flood zone of an address: FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center shows it for a given property.

Counties of Illinois

• Cook County

Named storms with paid claims in Illinois

• Hurricane Ike

Related tools

NFIP paid claims and premiums are not repair estimates: to estimate the cleanup of a flooded basement from published cost-guide rates, use the basement water damage repair cost calculator; for water removal and drying after any water loss, the water damage and mitigation calculator.

To set these figures against every State on one claims window, amounts paid, not repair cost: NFIP paid building claims by state.

Before using these figures

A state figure mixes very different counties and flood zones. Method and limits.

Source and notice

• 0 residential 2025 policies with policyCost <= 0 or empty are left out; 6 kept policies have zone D or an unknown zone (in n, not in the zone tables).

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).