North Carolina
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in North Carolina

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 106,285 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $990, and half of them fall between $726 (Q1) and $1,273 (Q3).

With 106,285 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, North Carolina has the 8th most of 53 States and territories. Residential NFIP policies counted by FEMA fell 16.5% between 2019 (127,285) and 2025 (106,285); the count peaked in 2020 (128,466). The median NFIP premium in North Carolina, $990, is 6.2% below the national median ($1,055); it is the 21st lowest 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 106,285 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in North Carolina

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 26,400 paid claims; median $15,871, half of them between $5,790 (Q1) and $45,843 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $19,559, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

The named event with the most paid claims in North Carolina, Hurricane Florence, accounts for 49.2% of them, ahead of Hurricane Matthew (18.3%): no single event holds a majority. 2018 alone holds 52.5% of the paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024).

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 30 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering North Carolina, 21 of them major disaster declarations.

North Carolina counts 30 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) since 2000, the 21st most of 53 States and territories. Hurricane declarations are the most frequent (20), ahead of Severe Storm (8) and Flood (2).

Latest declarations

• EM-3586: HURRICANE IAN (Hurricane, 2022-10-01)
• DR-4617: REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM FRED (Hurricane, 2021-09-08)
• DR-4588: TROPICAL STORM ETA (Severe Storm, 2021-03-03)
• DR-4568: HURRICANE ISAIAS (Hurricane, 2020-10-14)
• EM-3534: HURRICANE ISAIAS (Hurricane, 2020-08-02)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 214,142 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in North Carolina after disasters of every declared type; inspected damage is FEMA’s assessment for its assistance program, not repair cost.

Of the 214,142 owner registrations FEMA inspected in North Carolina after disasters of every declared type, 1.7% show more than $30,000 of FEMA-inspected damage, against 2.6% nationally. The disaster with the most inspections is DR-4393, HURRICANE FLORENCE (declared 2018-09-14), with 58,733.

Disasters with the most inspections

• DR-4393, HURRICANE FLORENCE (declared 2018-09-14): 58,733 inspections
• DR-4827, TROPICAL STORM HELENE (declared 2024-09-28): 57,255 inspections
• DR-4285, HURRICANE MATTHEW (declared 2016-10-10): 35,997 inspections
• DR-1490, HURRICANE ISABEL (declared 2003-09-18): 23,625 inspections
• DR-4019, HURRICANE IRENE (declared 2011-08-31): 19,359 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 623 NFIP communities in North Carolina: 596 participate in the NFIP and 104 (16.7%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 2 (Charlotte, 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 North Carolina dates from 2005-12-02 (Elm City, Town of). 27 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 27 carry a sanction, 5 coded as a suspension and 0 as a withdrawal.

In North Carolina, 5.6% 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 North Carolina

How much is flood insurance in North Carolina?

NFIP policyholders in North Carolina paid a median of $990 for residential policies effective 2025 (106,285 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $726 and $1,273; $1,114 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $814 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has North Carolina had?

26,400 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $15,871; the year with the most was 2018 (13,849), and the named event with the most was Hurricane Florence (12,990). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is North Carolina in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of North Carolina (policies effective 2025), 59,288 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 46,997 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, VE, AO, AH, A), 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 North Carolina

• Brunswick County

Named storms with paid claims in North Carolina

• Hurricane Sandy
• Hurricane Helene
• Hurricane Irene
• Hurricane Ian
• Hurricane Matthew
• Hurricane Florence
• Hurricane Michael
• Hurricane Eta
• Hurricane Isaias
• Hurricane Debby
• Tropical Storm Ernesto
• Hurricane Ophelia

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

• Owners assistance: county names not matched to a FIPS code (counted in the State total only): Alliance (RR name West Alliance) (no match, 1 inspected); Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (no match, 336 inspected); Harley (no match, 0 inspected); Statewide (no match, 0 inspected)

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).