Puerto Rico
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Puerto Rico

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 4,583 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $473, and half of them fall between $369 (Q1) and $622 (Q3).

With 4,583 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Puerto Rico has the 11th fewest of 53 States and territories. Of the 4 zones listed (AE, X, A, AO), zone X has the highest median premium ($524) and zone A the lowest ($394). No coastal V or VE zone is listed. Inside the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the median premium in Puerto Rico is $468, 10.7% lower than outside it ($524); most of its zoned policies sit inside the SFHA (85.4%).

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 4,583 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Puerto Rico

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 708 paid claims; median $23,817, half of them between $10,919 (Q1) and $43,025 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $28,683, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

2017 alone holds 68.2% of the paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024). The median paid claim, $23,817, is 36.1% below the national median of the same years ($37,248), the 9th highest of 51 States and territories. With 708 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Puerto Rico has the 19th fewest of 53 States and territories.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 26 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Puerto Rico, 18 of them major disaster declarations.

Latest declarations

• EM-3610: TROPICAL STORM ERNESTO (Severe Storm, 2024-08-13)
• DR-4805: SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES (Flood, 2024-07-23)
• DR-4671: HURRICANE FIONA (Hurricane, 2022-09-21)
• EM-3583: TROPICAL STORM FIONA (Hurricane, 2022-09-18)
• DR-4649: SEVERE STORM, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES (Flood, 2022-03-29)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 893,458 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Puerto Rico 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-4339, HURRICANE MARIA (declared 2017-09-20): 536,764 inspections
• DR-1552, TROPICAL STORM JEANNE AND RESULTING LANDSLIDES AND MUDSLIDES (declared 2004-09-17): 119,564 inspections
• DR-4671, HURRICANE FIONA (declared 2022-09-21): 99,585 inspections
• DR-1501, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES, AND LANDSLIDES (declared 2003-11-21): 41,494 inspections
• DR-4017, HURRICANE IRENE (declared 2011-08-27): 37,820 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 5 NFIP communities in Puerto Rico: 5 participate in the NFIP and 1 (20.0%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 9 (Ponce, Muncipality 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 Puerto Rico dates from 2009-11-18 (Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of).

Questions about flood insurance in Puerto Rico

How much is flood insurance in Puerto Rico?

NFIP policyholders in Puerto Rico paid a median of $473 for residential policies effective 2025 (4,583 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $369 and $622; $468 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $524 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Puerto Rico had?

708 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $23,817; the year with the most was 2017 (483), and the named event with the most was Hurricane Maria (477). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Puerto Rico in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Puerto Rico (policies effective 2025), 3,913 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 669 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, 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.

Named storms with paid claims in Puerto Rico

• Hurricane Irene
• Hurricane Maria

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).