Tennessee
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Tennessee

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 18,066 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $1,056, and half of them fall between $734 (Q1) and $1,368 (Q3).

Of the 3 zones listed (AE, X, A), zone A has the highest median premium ($1,261) and zone X the lowest ($906). No coastal V or VE zone is listed. With 18,066 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Tennessee has the 20th 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 18,066 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Tennessee

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 2,981 paid claims; median $17,343, half of them between $7,609 (Q1) and $38,629 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $20,577, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

The paid claims are spread over the years (year of loss 2015-2024): the busiest, 2021, holds 32.5% of them. With 2,981 paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024), Tennessee has the 17th most of 53 States and territories.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 40 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Tennessee, 37 of them major disaster declarations.

Latest declarations

• DR-4878: SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2025-06-19)
• EM-3625: SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2025-04-02)
• DR-4792: SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (Severe Storm, 2024-06-17)
• DR-4751: SEVERE STORMS AND TORNADOES (Severe Storm, 2023-12-13)
• DR-4742: SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADO (Severe Storm, 2023-09-27)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 77,426 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Tennessee after disasters of every declared type; inspected damage is FEMA’s assessment for its assistance program, not repair cost.

Of the 77,426 owner registrations FEMA inspected in Tennessee after disasters of every declared type, 4.2% show more than $30,000 of FEMA-inspected damage, against 2.6% nationally. The disaster with the most inspections is DR-1909, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES (declared 2010-05-04), with 33,932.

Disasters with the most inspections

• DR-1909, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND TORNADOES (declared 2010-05-04): 33,932 inspections
• DR-4898, SEVERE WINTER STORM (declared 2026-02-06): 12,652 inspections
• DR-1482, SEVERE STORMS, HIGH WINDS, AND HEAVY RAIN (declared 2003-07-29): 9,592 inspections
• DR-1464, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (declared 2003-05-08): 4,584 inspections
• DR-4832, TROPICAL STORM HELENE (declared 2024-10-02): 3,744 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 411 NFIP communities in Tennessee: 402 participate in the NFIP and 20 (4.9%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 6 (Knoxville, 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 Tennessee dates from 2006-06-16 (Hardin County*). 9 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 9 carry a sanction, 0 coded as a suspension and 0 as a withdrawal.

Questions about flood insurance in Tennessee

How much is flood insurance in Tennessee?

NFIP policyholders in Tennessee paid a median of $1,056 for residential policies effective 2025 (18,066 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $734 and $1,368; $1,194 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $906 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Tennessee had?

2,981 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $17,343; the year with the most was 2021 (970), and the named event with the most was Hurricane Helene (179). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Tennessee in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Tennessee (policies effective 2025), 10,207 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 7,859 outside it (zones listed: AE, X, A), 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 Tennessee

• Hurricane Helene

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).