Visualize Flood, Fire & Storm Risk by City

The combined hazard index is a single 0 to 100 natural disaster risk number that sums three things: flood risk and wildfire risk together (60 percent of the score), plus how many people and how much housing sit in the way (20 percent each). Higher means more overall exposure. That's the whole definition, and it's worth stating plainly because two cities can land on the same combined number while facing totally different threats. Miami runs high on flood and near-zero on fire. Phoenix runs the opposite. The single number lets you compare them fast, and the breakdown below tells you which hazard is actually driving it.

Risk isn't a reason to avoid places entirely. It's a reason to understand what you're signing up for and prepare accordingly.

Combined Hazard Score: What Two Cities Are Facing

The combined score blends flood risk, wildfire risk, and exposure factors into a single 0-100 number. Higher means more overall natural hazard exposure. But two cities with identical scores can face completely different threats.

How the score is built

• Hazard component (flood + wildfire): 60%
• Population exposure: 20%
• Housing exposure: 20%

Example: Same score, different risks

Houston, TX: Combined 56

• Flood risk: 78 (very high)
• Wildfire risk: 15 (very low)
• Profile: Flood-dominant

Sacramento, CA: Combined 54

• Flood risk: 35 (moderate)
• Wildfire risk: 65 (high)
• Profile: Wildfire-dominant

Similar combined scores, completely different preparation needs. Houston homeowners need flood insurance and sump pumps. Sacramento homeowners need fire-resistant landscaping and air purifiers for smoke season.

The hazard weighting defaults to 50/50 flood/wildfire. If you're more concerned about one hazard type, you can adjust the weighting to make the combined score reflect your priorities.

Flood Risk vs Wildfire Risk Trade-Offs

Most of the US faces either flood risk or wildfire risk, rarely both at high levels. Understanding which you're trading into matters for insurance, home maintenance, and daily life.

High flood risk cities

Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa, Jacksonville. Coastal areas, river cities, and low-lying metros. Floods happen from hurricanes, tropical storms, and heavy rain overwhelming drainage. Insurance is expensive and often mandatory. Damage can be catastrophic but usually isn't total. Think water damage repairs, not total loss.

High wildfire risk cities

Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Boise, Sacramento. Western states with dry vegetation, drought conditions, and wildland-urban interface zones. Fires happen suddenly and can result in total property loss. Insurance is increasingly unavailable in high-risk zones. Smoke affects air quality for weeks even if your property isn't directly threatened.

Lower risk alternatives

Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Kansas City, Pittsburgh. Inland, elevated, or humid enough to avoid most wildfires; far enough from coasts and major rivers to avoid most floods. Not zero risk, since no city is, but substantially lower on both hazards.

The "other hazards" caveat

This tool covers flood and wildfire, the two most common property-damage hazards. It doesn't cover earthquakes (California, Pacific Northwest), tornadoes (Midwest, South), hurricanes directly (though flood risk captures much of this), or winter storms. Low flood + low wildfire doesn't mean low overall risk.

When comparing cities, look at both individual hazard scores. A city with 45 flood and 45 wildfire faces different challenges than one with 80 flood and 10 wildfire, even if combined scores are similar.

Insurance and Property Value Implications

Risk scores translate directly to money. High-risk areas have higher insurance costs, sometimes insurance unavailability, and increasingly, impacts on property values and mortgage availability.

Flood insurance reality

FEMA flood insurance costs $500-$3,000+/year depending on zone and coverage. In designated flood zones, lenders require it. Outside flood zones, it's optional, but 25% of flood claims come from outside designated zones.

Private flood insurance is sometimes cheaper but not always available. Budget $1,000-$2,000/year for properties in moderate-to-high flood areas.

Wildfire insurance crisis

Major insurers are canceling policies in high-risk wildfire zones, particularly in California. State FAIR plans exist as last resort but cost significantly more and cover less.

Some homes are becoming effectively uninsurable. Before buying in wildfire zones, verify insurance availability. Not just the current policy, but whether it will renew.

Property value impacts

Research shows properties in high-risk areas are starting to appreciate slower or depreciate relative to safer areas. Buyers increasingly factor climate risk into offers. A home that seems underpriced might be priced correctly once risk is included.

Mortgage considerations

Some lenders are tightening requirements in high-risk areas. Properties that can't obtain insurance may not qualify for conventional mortgages. This can affect resale value and financing options.

Before committing to a high-risk area, get actual insurance quotes and verify coverage availability. The risk score tells you the hazard; the insurance market tells you whether that hazard is practically manageable.

Living With Risk (Preparation vs Avoidance)

High risk doesn't automatically mean "don't live there." Millions of people live in flood zones and fire-prone areas. The question is whether you're prepared to manage the risk or whether you'd rather avoid it.

Preparation approach

Accept the risk, budget for insurance, take mitigation steps. For floods: elevate utilities, install sump pumps, keep valuables off ground floors. For wildfires: maintain defensible space, use fire-resistant materials, have evacuation plans. This works if you're willing to invest time and money in ongoing preparation.

Avoidance approach

Prioritize lower-risk areas in your search. Accept trade-offs (maybe less desirable weather or job markets) for peace of mind. This works if climate anxiety would affect your quality of life, or if you're on a fixed income and can't absorb unexpected disaster costs.

Hybrid approach

Choose a moderate-risk city but select a lower-risk neighborhood within it. Many high-risk cities have pockets of lower risk: elevated areas in flood cities, urban cores away from wildland in fire-prone metros. You get city benefits without maximum exposure.

The renter advantage

Renters have more flexibility. If a neighborhood floods, you can move when your lease ends. You need renter's insurance (cheap) but not property insurance. This makes living in higher-risk areas more viable for renters than owners, since you can enjoy the location without the same financial exposure.

Neither approach is wrong. Some people thrive in beautiful but risky locations with proper preparation. Others can't relax knowing their home could flood or burn. Know yourself.

When Historical Risk Data Falls Short

These risk scores are based on historical data, meaning what's happened in the past. Climate change is making historical data increasingly unreliable for predicting future risk.

1. Wildfires are spreading to new areas. Places that never burned are now burning. Colorado, New Mexico, and even humid states are seeing unprecedented fire activity. Historical "low risk" might not mean future low risk.
2. Flood patterns are changing. "100-year floods" are happening every few years in some areas. Rainfall intensity is increasing even as average precipitation stays stable. Infrastructure designed for old weather patterns fails more often.
3. FEMA maps lag reality. Flood zone maps are often 10-20 years old. Development upstream increases downstream flood risk. A property outside the official flood zone might actually flood regularly now.
4. Compound events are new. Wildfires followed by heavy rain causing mudslides. Back-to-back hurricanes. Heat waves that dry out vegetation before fire season. Historical data doesn't capture these combinations well.

Because these numbers look backward, they lag the climate that's actually arriving. Pull the forward-looking projections for any region you're weighing, and talk to people who live there about what's hit in the last few years. Locals will name the flash flood or the smoke week that never shows up in a historical average. Read the score as one input among several, then verify at the address before anything gets decided.

Reading the Scores Sensibly

A few things trip people up when they first look at these numbers. The tool focuses on flood and wildfire, the two most common property-damage hazards. Hurricanes feed into the flood side of the score, but tornadoes and earthquakes aren't included directly. If you want the full hazard picture, FEMA's National Risk Index covers 18 natural hazard types, and USGS hazard maps handle earthquakes.

These are city-level comparisons, which is fine for narrowing down where to look. Before you actually buy, though, you need the address. Check FEMA's Flood Map Service Center for a specific property's flood zone, and First Street Foundation's Risk Factor for its fire exposure. A city can score low overall while one street floods every spring.

It helps to keep hazard and exposure separate in your head. Hazard is the odds and severity of an event, whether it'll flood and how badly. Exposure is how many people and buildings sit in harm's way. A remote canyon can carry high hazard but low exposure because almost nobody lives there, while a dense metro often runs moderate hazard and very high exposure. The combined score blends both, which is why the breakdown matters.

Don't read a high score as a reason to cross a city off. Plenty of desirable places carry elevated risk precisely because of what makes them appealing, the coastal views or the mountain setting. A high number means higher insurance and more planning, not automatic avoidance. Whether the trade is worth it depends on your budget and how much a disaster would set you back.

As for freshness, the underlying data typically refreshes once a year. FEMA flood maps move much slower, sometimes decades between revisions, so if a major event recently hit an area the real conditions can be worse than the score suggests. The numbers here come from FEMA's National Risk Index, USDA Forest Service wildfire risk assessments, NOAA historical weather data, and state-level hazard maps, all public and compiled for side-by-side comparison.

Sources

Each dataset feeds a specific part of the score:

• FEMA National Risk Index: hazards.fema.gov/nri, the composite backbone covering 18 natural hazard types.
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center: msc.fema.gov, for flood-zone determinations at a specific address.
• USDA Forest Service Wildfire Risk: wildfirerisk.org, community-level wildfire exposure.
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: ncei.noaa.gov, the historical storm and climate records behind the trend notes.