Wisconsin
flood insurance data

NFIP premiums in Wisconsin

NFIP premiums: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote. Across 8,652 policies (policies effective 2025; occupancy: residential (occupancyType 1,2,3,11,12,13,14); amount: FEMA field policyCost), the median is $957, and half of them fall between $660 (Q1) and $1,292 (Q3).

Inside the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the median premium in Wisconsin is $1,040, 24.0% higher than outside it ($839); most of its zoned policies sit inside the SFHA (59.5%). Of the 3 zones listed (AE, X, A), zone AE has the highest median premium ($1,079) and zone X the lowest ($839). No coastal V or VE zone is listed. The median NFIP premium in Wisconsin, $957, is 9.3% below the national median ($1,055); it is the 16th lowest of 53 States and territories. With 8,652 residential NFIP policies effective 2025, Wisconsin has the 22nd fewest 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 8,652 policies.

NFIP paid building claims in Wisconsin

NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: year of loss 2015-2024; 1,243 paid claims; median $13,509, half of them between $5,080 (Q1) and $32,196 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $16,586, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.

Two years hold 63.2% of the paid claims (year of loss 2015-2024): 2019 with 397 and 2018 with 388. The named event with the most paid claims in Wisconsin, March 2019 Midwest Flooding, accounts for 20.2% of them: no single event holds a majority.

Paid claims by year of loss

FEMA disaster declarations

Since 2000: 20 flood, hurricane and severe-storm declarations (DR and EM) covering Wisconsin, 19 of them major disaster declarations.

Latest declarations

• DR-4923: SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (Flood, 2026-06-30)
• DR-4892: SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES (Flood, 2025-09-11)
• DR-4477: SEVERE WINTER STORM AND FLOODING (Flood, 2020-03-11)
• DR-4459: SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING (Flood, 2019-08-27)
• DR-4402: SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND LANDSLIDES (Flood, 2018-10-18)

FEMA assistance to homeowners

Since 2002: 79,176 owner registrations inspected by FEMA in Wisconsin 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-1768, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (declared 2008-06-14): 25,081 inspections
• DR-4892, SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES (declared 2025-09-11): 21,286 inspections
• DR-1933, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (declared 2010-08-11): 13,440 inspections
• DR-4923, SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING (declared 2026-06-30): 9,857 inspections
• DR-1719, SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING (declared 2007-08-26): 3,709 inspections

NFIP communities and flood maps

FEMA’s Community Status Book lists 630 NFIP communities in Wisconsin: 572 participate in the NFIP and 17 (2.7%) are classed in the Community Rating System (CRS). The best class among the communities counted here is 5 (Elm Grove, Village of and Kenosha County *): 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 Wisconsin dates from 1974-09-20 (Lublin, Village of). 58 of these communities do not participate in the NFIP; 58 carry a sanction, 12 coded as a suspension and 2 as a withdrawal.

In Wisconsin, 7.9% 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 Wisconsin

How much is flood insurance in Wisconsin?

NFIP policyholders in Wisconsin paid a median of $957 for residential policies effective 2025 (8,652 policies; FEMA field policyCost: premium, reserve fund assessment, federal policy fee and HFIAA surcharge); half paid between $660 and $1,292; $1,040 inside the Special Flood Hazard Area against $839 outside it: what NFIP policyholders paid, not a quote.

How many flood insurance claims has Wisconsin had?

1,243 NFIP building claims were paid (year of loss 2015-2024), with a median of $13,509; the year with the most was 2019 (397), and the named event with the most was March 2019 Midwest Flooding (251). These are amounts paid, not repair cost.

Is Wisconsin in a flood zone?

Of the residential NFIP policies of Wisconsin (policies effective 2025), 5,146 are rated inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 3,505 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.

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): Oneida Indian Reservation (no match, 43 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).