How much is flood insurance? The price of a house policy, by zone and type of home
A single-family flood policy had a median bill of $1,081 a year on July 31, 2026. Enter a full-risk price below to see where it sits in a state.
Single-family homes in New Jersey with a lower full-risk price
25 %
Among the 113,958 policies FEMA priced in August 2023.
| Full-risk price under $1,000 | 14 % |
| State median full-risk price, 2023 rates | $1,943 |
| Price entered | $1,290 |
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 2,813,889 single-family flood policies of the federal program had a median yearly bill of $1,081 and an average of $1,323, premium, Reserve Fund Assessment, HFIAA surcharge and Federal Policy Fee included. The average sits above the median because a small group of houses pays several thousand dollars. Location moves the price most: the median was $958 in X, B and C zones, $1,197 in A zones and $1,796 in coastal V zones. FEMA's own price bands of 2023 put 37 % of houses under $1,000 a year at full risk and 70 % under $2,000, while 6 % were priced at $5,000 or more. A second home or a rental pays $225 more a year in fixed charges than a main home, and a discounted premium on such a home climbs by 25 % a year, against at most 18 % for a main home.
The middle of the market: $1,081 a year
The figure most people want is the price of an ordinary house, and the cleanest answer is the median of the policies actually in force. On July 31, 2026, OpenFEMA listed 2,813,889 single-family policies with a building in the federal program, and half of them cost less than $1,081 for the year. That amount is the full bill, not the premium alone: the median premium was $838, the median Reserve Fund Assessment $151, and two flat charges, the $47 Federal Policy Fee and the $25 HFIAA surcharge of a main home, come on top. Medians do not add up exactly, so those parts are a guide to the structure rather than a sum.
What that money buys is fairly uniform. The median policy carried $250,000 of building coverage, the legal maximum for a house, and 76 % of policies were written at that maximum. 79 % also covered belongings, with a median contents limit of $100,000. Two houses with the same coverage can still pay very different amounts, because the price follows the building, not the coverage.
Why the average is higher than the median
The average bill, $1,323, is pulled up by a long tail. FEMA's single-family table of August 2023, which priced every policy at its full risk under the current method, shows how uneven the market is. Most houses cluster in the first two bands, and the number thins out quickly after $3,000. Only 16,442 policies, out of 3,149,679, were priced at $10,000 a year or more, yet those houses weigh on any average.
| Full-risk yearly price | Share of houses | Median rebuild value |
|---|---|---|
| $0 to $1,000 | 37.1 % | $400,587 |
| $1,000 to $2,000 | 32.5 % | $419,271 |
| $2,000 to $3,000 | 13.4 % | $447,566 |
| $3,000 to $4,000 | 6.6 % | $460,156 |
| $4,000 to $5,000 | 4.0 % | $447,737 |
| $5,000 to $6,000 | 2.5 % | $446,578 |
| $6,000 to $7,000 | 1.7 % | $463,260 |
The last column is useful: the rebuild value barely changes from one band to the next. A house paying $6,000 a year is not much more expensive to rebuild than one paying $600. The difference lies in how likely and how deep a flood would be at that address.
What makes one house cost more than its neighbor
Under the pricing method FEMA has used since 2021, each building gets its own rate from a list of facts: distance to the coast, a river or a lake, the kinds of flooding that can reach it (rain, river overflow, storm surge, coastal erosion), the height of the first floor above the ground, the foundation, a basement or not, and the cost to rebuild. The flood zone on the map no longer sets the rate directly, but it still tracks risk, which is why the zone medians differ so much.
In 2026, a house in a coastal V zone had a median bill of $1,796, against $1,197 for the high-risk A zones along rivers and bays and $958 outside the mapped high-risk area. V zones are rare, 43,156 policies, but they show what storm surge and waves add. A raised house on piles in a V zone can still pay less than an older slab house at the edge of an A zone, because elevation counts as much as the zone line.
Median bill by zone type in one state
Median yearly cost, X, B and C zones, North Carolina
$815
| Same zone type, whole country | $958 |
| A zones in North Carolina | $1,160 |
| V zones in North Carolina | $1,346 |
Main home, second home, rental
The same house costs more when nobody lives in it as a main residence. Two rules make the difference. The HFIAA surcharge is $25 for a primary residence and $250 for any other home, so $225 more a year before any premium. And when the premium is still below its full-risk level, the law makes it rise by 25 % a year for a non-primary residence, against at most 18 % for a main home (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(2)). About 17 % of single-family policies in force on July 31, 2026 were not on a main home. The second home guide covers the rest.
Where in the country
State medians spread less than people expect, because every state has cheap and dear houses. Among states with at least 1,000 policies, Connecticut had the highest median, $1,594, and Alaska the lowest, $380. The calculator at the top of the page answers a sharper question: where a given full-risk price ranks among the houses of one state. In New Jersey, for instance, a house priced at the national full-risk median of $1,290 would cost more than 25 % of the state's insured houses. The state ranking lists every state.
How to get your own number
A median tells you what is normal, not what you will pay. The only exact figure is a quote for the building, which a licensed agent or the insurer that writes your homeowners policy can produce for the federal program, often with an elevation certificate if one exists. If you already hold a policy, the declarations page shows both what you pay and the full-risk premium, which is where the yearly increases are heading. The ZIP code lookup gives the median of the houses insured around yours, the closest public benchmark.