10 states with the most natural disasters

February 3, 2025 5:30 AM

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Climate change is causing natural disasters to be more frequent and often more catastrophic. A study from MoneyGeek determined the states with the most natural disasters by analyzing 20 years of disaster declaration data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

California is the state with the most natural disasters, with 282 declarations since 2003. Of these disasters, 246 were wildfires, 16 were severe storms and there was one hurricane.

Other top states include Texas and Oklahoma, with 175 and 163 disaster declarations. Texas had 136 wildfires, eight severe storms and 15 hurricanes. Oklahoma had 93 wildfires, 37 severe storms and one hurricane.

California had the most declared wildfires at 246, Florida had the most declared hurricanes at 34 and Oklahoma had the most declared severe storms at 37.

Read more about the states with the most natural disasters.

States ranked by amount of natural disasters from 2003-2023

Rank	State	Total disaster count	Wildfires	Severe storms	Hurricanes
10	Montana	62	45	5	1
9	Nevada	65	53	5	1
8	Florida	72	18	12	34
7	Arizona	72	52	11	1
6	New Mexico	74	45	10	1
5	Oregon	85	65	13	0
4	Washington	128	101	14	0
3	Oklahoma	163	93	37	1
2	Texas	175	136	8	15
1	California	282	246	16	1