Cook County, Illinois
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Cook County

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 6,010 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $1,165, and half of them fall between $835 (Q1) and $1,530 (Q3).

With 6,010 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Cook County has the 86th most of 339 counties with all four FEMA sources, and the most of 5 Illinois counties of that list. Of the 4 zones listed (AE, X, A, AH), zone AH has the highest median premium ($1,516) and zone A the lowest ($932). No coastal V or VE zone is listed. The median NFIP premium in Cook County, $1,165, is 5.0% above the Illinois median ($1,110) and 10.4% above the national median ($1,055); it is the 103rd highest of 339 counties with all four FEMA sources.

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 6,010 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Cook County

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 741 paid claims; median $6,498, half of them between $3,053 (Q1) and $13,726 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $7,920, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

With 741 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Cook County has the 87th most of 339 counties with all four FEMA sources, and the most of 5 Illinois counties of that list. The paid claims are spread over the years (year of loss 2015-2024): the busiest, 2020, holds 27.8% of them.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 8 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Cook County, 7 of them major disaster declarations.

With 8 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) since 2000, Cook County has more than the median Illinois county with all four FEMA sources (6). Severe Storm declarations are the most frequent (4), ahead of Flood (3) 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-4116: SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING (Flood, 2013-05-10)
• DR-1935: SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2010-08-19)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 267,019 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Cook County 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): 93,721 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): 46,758 inspections
• DR-1800, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2008-10-03): 30,768 inspections
• DR-4819, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODNG (declared 2024-09-20): 23,244 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book places 104 NFIP communities in Cook County alone; 19 of them (18.3%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 5 (Calumet City, City of, Des Plaines, City of, Glenview, Village of and 4 more): FEMA applies that 25% discount to the full-risk premium of Regular Program NFIP policies in those communities, inside or outside the SFHA, not to the whole county; a policy can be excluded if its building does not comply with local floodplain rules. The oldest flood map still in effect in Cook County dates from 2008-08-19 (Calumet City, City of).

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.

Communities that extend into other counties

31 more communities list Cook County among several counties; they are not counted above.

Questions about flood insurance in Cook County

How much is flood insurance in Cook County?

NFIP policyholders in Cook County paid a median of $1,165 for residential policies effective 2025 (6,010 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $835 and $1,530; $1,342 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $944 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Cook County had?

741 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $6,498; the year with the most was 2020 (206), and the named event with the most was Early winter storms (1). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Cook County in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Cook County (policies effective 2025), 3,700 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 2,310 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.

Statewide figures: Illinois flood insurance data.

Named storms with paid claims in Cook County

• 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 county figure can rest on one disaster, and FEMA’s county code may not be the county where every property stands. Method and limits.

Source and notice

• Dominant event: Early winter storms = 0.001 of paid claims 2015-2024.

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).