Flood insurance by state: the median bill in each of the 50 states and DC
Pick a state: its median single-family bill on July 31, 2026, its full-risk median, and five years of renewals from your own bill.
Single-family flood policies in Texas
$1,083
Median yearly cost of the 484,546 policies in force on July 31, 2026.
| Median full-risk price, same policies | $1,249 |
| Still below their full-risk price | 46 % |
| Median paid in August 2023 | $779 |
| Gap left from the bill entered | 1 renewal at 18 % |
| Next five bills from that bill | $6,245 |
Medians of single-family homes; your own premium depends on the building, not on the state.
Compiled by Radif Partners · Where the numbers come from · FEMA and OpenFEMA files, rules read in 42 U.S.C. and 44 CFR · not a quote
On July 31, 2026, the most expensive state for a single-family flood policy was Connecticut, with a median bill of $1,594 a year, followed by Hawaii ($1,491) and Massachusetts ($1,410). The least expensive among states with at least 1,000 policies was Alaska, at $380. Those medians come from the federal program's own policy file and include premium, assessment, surcharge and fee. Where people buy flood insurance matters as much as what it costs: Florida, Texas, Louisiana, California, South Carolina hold 69 % of all single-family policies, 887,941 in Florida alone. The gap to the full-risk price differs too: in Hawaii FEMA's full-risk median is 2.2 times the 2026 median bill, so increases have years to run, while in Utah most bills have already caught up. The calculator above applies the 18 % yearly cap from any bill you enter.
Why one state costs more than another
A state has no flood insurance price of its own. Every federal policy is priced building by building: FEMA's rating looks at how often the place floods, the types of flooding it faces (river overflow, storm surge, coastal erosion, heavy rainfall), its proximity to flood sources, and the building's first floor height and cost to rebuild (FEMA fact sheet). A state median is therefore a portrait of where its insured homes stand. In FEMA's 2023 tables, South Carolina (90 % of policies), Florida (88 % of policies), Louisiana (85 % of policies) had the largest shares of policies exposed to storm surge.
A low median does not mean low risk. It describes the houses that carry a federal policy, which in some states are few: the median then speaks for a small, specific group of homes, not for the state as a whole.
The 12 states with the highest median bill
| State | Policies 2026 | Median 2026 | Full-risk median | Full-risk to bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | 18,351 | $1,594 | $2,514 | 1.58× |
| Hawaii | 9,071 | $1,491 | $3,258 | 2.19× |
| Massachusetts | 29,878 | $1,410 | $1,762 | 1.25× |
| New Hampshire | 3,492 | $1,376 | $2,248 | 1.63× |
| West Virginia | 6,058 | $1,342 | $2,683 | 2× |
| Vermont | 2,200 | $1,321 | $1,896 | 1.44× |
| New Jersey | 98,092 | $1,311 | $1,943 | 1.48× |
| New York | 99,714 | $1,309 | $1,834 | 1.4× |
| Mississippi | 38,273 | $1,233 | $1,622 | 1.32× |
| Alabama | 23,377 | $1,227 | $1,703 | 1.39× |
| Pennsylvania | 28,578 | $1,205 | $1,623 | 1.35× |
| Rhode Island | 7,495 | $1,204 | $1,284 | 1.07× |
The last column divides the full-risk median by today's median bill. Above 1, the typical bill still has increases ahead under the yearly cap; below 1, the typical bill already exceeds what FEMA computes for its full risk, which usually means the full-risk price has been reached and FEMA's later rate changes have pushed bills a little higher.
Check another state against your own bill
Single-family flood policies in New Hampshire
$1,376
| Median full-risk price, same policies | $2,189 |
| Still below their full-risk price | 53 % |
| Median paid in August 2023 | $972 |
| Gap left from the bill entered | 3 renewals at 18 % |
The states where flood insurance costs the least
| State | Policies 2026 | Median 2026 | Full-risk median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 2,414 | $380 | $413 |
| District of Columbia | 1,166 | $394 | $397 |
| Maryland | 29,597 | $657 | $647 |
| Utah | 2,779 | $658 | $612 |
| Virginia | 67,755 | $807 | $800 |
| Michigan | 14,901 | $832 | $832 |
| North Dakota | 4,618 | $867 | $890 |
| Nevada | 6,687 | $876 | $869 |
Across these 8 states, 0.8 % of single-family policies are rated in V zones, the coastal high hazard areas, against 1.5 % nationwide. The X, B and C zones are the moderate- and low-risk areas of the flood maps, where no lender is required to demand a policy.
Where the bill rose fastest since 2023
FEMA's single-family tables give each state's median bill for August 2023, and the policy file gives it again for July 31, 2026. Set side by side, they show which states have been catching up with the full-risk price. The steepest climbs came in Mississippi ($801 to $1,233), Alabama ($825 to $1,227), Hawaii ($1,023 to $1,491). These are states where a large share of policies started far below their full-risk level, so the yearly cap has been at work on most renewals.
At the other end, Alaska went from $412 to $380. A flat or falling median fits a state where most bills already matched their full-risk price in 2023. A state whose median has barely moved has fewer increases ahead than one that has risen steeply and still shows a wide gap in the table above.
Who buys outside the high-risk zones
The zone mix of a state's policies says a lot about its median. Nationwide, 43 % of single-family policies in force on July 31, 2026 were in X, B or C zones, where federal law does not oblige a lender to require flood insurance. District of Columbia (86 %), Texas (67 %), Utah (59 %) had the highest shares. In those places many owners buy by choice, and their policies pull the state median down because moderate-risk buildings cost less to insure.
In Kentucky and New Jersey, by contrast, only 20 % or less of policies sat in those zones. The insured houses there are mostly the ones a lender requires to be covered, in A or V zones, and the state median describes that higher-risk group rather than the typical house of the state. Comparing two states on their medians alone can therefore mislead: the one with the lower figure may simply insure more low-risk buildings.
What a state page adds
Each state page reads the same files down to the county and the ZIP code: the counties with the most policies, the spread of full-risk prices in $1,000 bands, and the floods that paid the most claims since 2016. Start from the most insured states, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, California, South Carolina, or from the ZIP code lookup if you know where the house is. The method behind each figure is on the method page.