Massachusetts
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Massachusetts

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 34,809 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $1,409, and half of them fall between $965 (Q1) and $1,909 (Q3).

Of the 5 zones listed (AE, X, VE, A, AO), zone VE has the highest median premium ($1,787) and zone A the lowest ($943). Coastal high-hazard zone VE is listed, with 4,054 policies. Residential NFIP policies counted by FEMA fell 18.2% between 2019 (42,540) and 2025 (34,809); the first year, 2019, has the highest count of the 7. With 34,809 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Massachusetts has the 12th most 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 34,809 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Massachusetts

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 2,885 paid claims; median $12,611, half of them between $5,257 (Q1) and $31,259 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $15,237, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

2018 alone holds 56.5% of the paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024). With 2,885 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Massachusetts has the 18th most of 53 States and territories.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 22 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Massachusetts, 13 of them major disaster declarations.

Massachusetts counts 22 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) since 2000, the 21st fewest of 53 States and territories. Severe Storm declarations are the most frequent (12), ahead of Hurricane (8) and Flood (2).

Latest declarations

• DR-4780: SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (Flood, 2024-05-15)
• EM-3599: HURRICANE LEE (Hurricane, 2023-09-15)
• EM-3566: TROPICAL STORM HENRI (Hurricane, 2021-08-22)
• DR-4372: SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2018-06-25)
• DR-4214: SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2015-04-13)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 48,247 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Massachusetts 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-1895, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2010-03-29): 33,319 inspections
• DR-1642, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2006-05-25): 8,874 inspections
• DR-1512, FLOODING (declared 2004-04-21): 1,705 inspections
• DR-1614, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2005-11-10): 1,679 inspections
• DR-4780, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2024-05-15): 1,192 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 350 NFIP communities in Massachusetts: 340 participate in the NFIP and 25 (7.1%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 6 (Sandwich, Town of and Winchester, Town of): FEMA applies its CRS discount to the full-risk premium of Regular Program NFIP policies in those communities, 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 Massachusetts dates from 1974-11-22 (Windsor, Town of). 10 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 10 carry a sanction, 2 coded as a suspension and 0 as a withdrawal.

Questions about flood insurance in Massachusetts

How much is flood insurance in Massachusetts?

NFIP policyholders in Massachusetts paid a median of $1,409 for residential policies effective 2025 (34,809 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $965 and $1,909; $1,634 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $973 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Massachusetts had?

2,885 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $12,611; the year with the most was 2018 (1,630), and the named event with the most was December Nor'easter (60). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Massachusetts in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Massachusetts (policies effective 2025), 25,418 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 9,391 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, VE, A, AO), 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 Massachusetts

• Plymouth County

Named storms with paid claims in Massachusetts

• Hurricane Sandy
• Hurricane Irene

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

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).