With a variety of environmental events affecting the wide stretch of the United States, each state is subject to its own risks. Particularly, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, landslides, lightning and drought, among other events, can cause damage to buildings, agriculture and individuals alike. When considering insurance, residents and business owners in each state should account for historic and projected losses due to environmental events in their financial plans.
With this in mind, SmartAsset set out to determine which states are most at financial risk due to various weather events. States were ranked by the total expected annual financial losses per person across all major environmental events according to the latest data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Key findings
1. Louisiana
Total expected annual loss per person: $555.55
2. South Dakota
Total expected annual loss per person: $455.62
3. Florida
Total expected annual loss per person: $422.84
4. South Carolina
Total expected annual loss per person: $418.78
5. California
Total expected annual loss per person: $413.43
6. North Dakota
Total expected annual loss per person: $411.04
7. Oregon
Total expected annual loss per person: $338.11
8. Mississippi
Total expected annual loss per person: $337.33
9. Nebraska
Total expected annual loss per person: $329.51
10. Texas
Total expected annual loss per person: $283.15
1. Ohio
Total expected annual loss per person: $63.89
2. New York
Total expected annual loss per person: $68.89
3. Arizona
Total expected annual loss per person: $73.00
4. Pennsylvania
Total expected annual loss per person: $74.65
5. Rhode Island
Total expected annual loss per person: $75.72
6. Vermont
Total expected annual loss per person: $77.99
7. Michigan
Total expected annual loss per person: $83.29
8. Massachusetts
Total expected annual loss per person: $85.95
9. West Virginia
Total expected annual loss per person: $87.36
10. Connecticut
Total expected annual loss per person: $94.01
Expected annual loss estimates are normalized for each state's population. Data comes from FEMA and includes projected costs in one year of agricultural, building, and population damage done by coastal flooding, cold wave, drought, earthquake, hail, heat wave, hurricane, ice storm, landslide, lightning, riverine flooding, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire and winter weather.
This story was produced by SmartAsset and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.