A Firm Foundation: How Insurance Supports the Economy

The insurance industry plays a vital role in helping individuals and businesses prepare for and recover from the potentially devastating effects of a disaster such as a catastrophic hurricane or storm or wildfire. Information on catastrophes, including earthquakes, terrorism, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes is provided in the “Supporting resiliency and disaster recovery" section of the Firm Foundation (see chapter navigation on the left). In addition, the section below provides state catastrophe rankings, followed by information on the following types of disasters:

  • Hailstorms
  • Hurricanes
  • Tornadoes
  • Wildfires

State catastrophe rankings

Top Five States By Number Of Major Hail Events, 2020 (1)

 

Rank State Number of hail events
1 Texas 601
2 South Dakota 377
3 Kansas 341
4 Oklahoma 341
5 Nebraska 313
  United States 4,611

(1) Hailstones one inch in diameter or larger.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service.

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Top 10 Costliest Hurricanes In The United States (1)

($ millions)

       Estimated insured loss 
Rank Year Hurricane Dollars when occurred In 2020 dollars (2)
1 2005 Hurricane Katrina $65,000 $86,570
2 2012 Hurricane Sandy 30,000 33,930
3 2017 Hurricane Harvey 30,000 31,960
4 2017 Hurricane Irma 29,900 31,850
5 2017 Hurricane Maria 29,670 31,270
6 1992 Hurricane Andrew 16,000 29,700
7 2008 Hurricane Ike 18,200 21,760
8 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,670 14,010
9 2018 Hurricane Michael 13,250 13,710
10 2004 Hurricane Ivan 8,720 12,060

(1) Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Includes hurricanes that occurred through 2020. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of February, 2021. Ranked on insured losses in 2020 dollars.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.

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Storm Surge Risk By State By Number Of Single-Family Homes and Reconstruction Value, 2020 (1)

 

    Number of single-family homes at risk by storm category (2)
Rank State Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5
1 Florida 353,994 1,088,511 1,806,312 2,362,323 2,851,642
2 Louisiana 72,883 212,707 640,307 770,030 843,349
3 Texas 41,398 122,453 264,103 399,741 563,024
4 New Jersey 95,473 277,147 381,388 471,323 471,323 (3)
5 New York 76,805 228,069 351,937 467,787 467,787 (3)
6 Virginia 23,232 89,347 243,707 366,117 410,277
7 South Carolina 37,107 132,728 219,420 308,387 363,875
8 North Carolina 33,254 97,694 165,266 216,446 267,802
9 Georgia 9,378 54,470 113,068 152,882 164,504
10 Massachusetts 8,102 42,832 97,083 151,979 151,979 (3)
11 Maryland 16,091 59,214 98,757 126,589 126,589 (3)
12 Mississippi 5,740 25,385 56,768 90,023 102,596
13 Pennsylvania 847 21,378 58,921 85,794 85,794 (3)
14 Connecticut 6,708 27,921 46,186 67,433 67,433 (3)
15 Delaware 10,855 31,057 49,103 67,055 67,055 (3)
16 Alabama 5,203 15,841 27,769 40,287 51,929
17 Rhode Island 1,396 7,979 17,345 26,336 26,336 (3)
18 Maine 5,657 7,912 11,969 18,149 18,149 (3)
19 New Hampshire 193 4,069 7,074 9,336 9,336 (3)
  Total homes
potentially affected		 804,316 2,546,714 4,656,483 6,198,017 7,110,779
    Reconstruction cost value of single-family homes at risk (2), (4) ($ millions)
Rank State Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5
1 Florida $71,707.9 $224,088.9 $372,234.3 $483,618.4 $580,606.2
2 Louisiana 15,887.7 47,717.2 152,745.6 184,008.0 202,330.0
3 New York 30,410.9 95,248.1 146,867.2 196,107.2 196,107.2 (3)
4 New Jersey 27,523.2 84,974.9 119,707.6 150,599.6 150,599.5 (3)
5 Texas 7,467.3 22,579.6 51,408.9 81,181.5 113,419.1
6 Virginia 5,962.5 22,598.0 57,844.1 86,624.2 98,314.8
7 South Carolina 10,447.7 35,063.9 55,589.2 75,121.4 86,468.7
8 North Carolina 7,178.2 21,277.7 36,350.3 47,968.2 59,542.6
9 Massachusetts 2,306.8 12,658.0 29,179.0 47,309.5 47,309.5 (3)
10 Georgia 2,869.0 14,504.6 26,994.0 35,215.7 37,416.2
11 Maryland 3,878.3 14,151.3 23,657.9 30,518.8 30,518.8 (3)
12 Connecticut 2,344.5 9,635.7 15,669.6 22,538.4 22,538.4 (3)
13 Pennsylvania 193.8 5,120.6 14,596.0 21,349.8 21,349.8 (3)
14 Mississippi 1,175.2 5,247.4 11,573.3 18,024.1 20,467.4
15 Delaware 3,082.8 8,693.8 13,892.8 18,943.9 18,943.9 (3)
16 Alabama 965.3 2,972.1 5,112.2 7,360.8 9,449.8
17 Rhode Island 350.2 2,339.3 5,080.9 7,761.3 7,761.3 (3)
18 Maine 1,314.9 1,892.6 2,949.9 4,589.9 4,589.8 (3)
19 New Hampshire 35.2 713.9 1,434.1 2,038.9 2,038.9 (3)
  Total homes
potentially affected		 $195,101.5 $631,477.6 $1,142,886.9 $1,520,879.6 $1,709,772.1

(1) The risk categories are cumulative and increase in value from Category 1 to Category 5. Category 1 represents the higher risk of damage from a weak hurricane; Category 5 includes Categories 1 to 4 and the low risk of damage from a Category 5 hurricane.
(2) Measured in units.
(3) Storm surge risk for Category 5 storms for homes on the northeastern Atlantic Coast is not shown due to the extremely low probability of a Category 5 storm affecting these areas.
(4) Represents the cost to completely rebuild including labor and materials by geographic location.

Source: CoreLogic®, a property data and analytics company.

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While individual hurricanes and earthquakes tend to produce higher losses, tornadoes account for a major share of catastrophe losses because of their frequency.

Tornadoes And Related Deaths By State, 2020 (1)

State Tornadoes Fatalities Rank (2) State Tornadoes Fatalities Rank (2)
Alabama 78 5 3 Montana 2 0 37
Alaska 0 0 (3) Nebraska 35 0 13
Arizona 4 0 34 Nevada 0 0 (3)
Arkansas 41 0 11 New Hampshire 0 0 (3)
California 7 0 28 New Jersey 9 0 31
Colorado 34 0 14 New Mexico 21 0 25
Connecticut 6 0 30 New York 10 0 27
Delaware 7 0 28 North Carolina 54 2 10
D.C. 0 0 (3) North Dakota 22 0 20
Florida 65 0 7 Ohio 19 0 24
Georgia 75 9 4 Oklahoma 31 2 15
Hawaii 0 0 (3) Oregon 3 0 35
Idaho 0 0 (3) Pennsylvania 6 0 30
Illinois 71 0 5 Rhode Island 0 0 (3)
Indiana 39 0 15 South Carolina 57 8 8
Iowa 28 0 16 South Dakota 21 1 22
Kansas 27 0 17 Tennessee 38 27 12
Kentucky 23 0 19 Texas 102 4 2
Louisiana 55 5 9 Utah 0 0 (3)
Maine 2 0 37 Vermont 0 0 (3)
Maryland 21 0 22 Virginia 15 0 26
Massachusetts 3 0 35 Washington 2 0 37
Michigan 2 0 37 West Virginia 0 0 (3)
Minnesota 69 1 6 Wisconsin 22 0 20
Mississippi 127 12 1 Wyoming 1 0 42
Missouri 27 0 17 United States (4) 1,243 76  

(1) Ranked by total number of tornadoes.
(2) States with the same number of tornadoes receive the same ranking.
(3) State had no tornadoes in 2020.
(4) The U.S. total will not match data used in other charts because it counts tornadoes that cross state lines.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service.

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Wildfires By State, 2020

 

State Number of fires Number of acres burned
Alabama 836 20,557
Alaska 349 181,169
Arizona 2,524 978,568
Arkansas 655 12,552
California 10,431 4,092,151
Colorado 1,080 625,357
Connecticut 586 383
Delaware 426 1,356
District of Columbia 0 0
Florida 2,381 99,413
Georgia 1,699 5,677
Hawaii 58 472
Idaho 944 314,352
Illinois 19 240
Indiana 11 313
Iowa 126 2,168
Kansas 52 34,581
Kentucky 524 7,950
Louisiana 401 5,880
Maine 1,156 1,032
Maryland 2 930
Massachusetts 1,189 834
Michigan 409 1,131
Minnesota 1,372 8,838
Mississippi 729 22,035
Missouri 1,090 17,940
Montana 2,433 369,633
Nebraska 41 7,611
Nevada 770 259,275
New Hampshire 252 88
New Jersey 1,981 11,919
New Mexico 1,018 109,513
New York 192 1,123
North Carolina 2,364 12,875
North Dakota 651 3,782
Ohio 649 1,551
Oklahoma 1,241 102,302
Oregon 2,215 1,141,613
Pennsylvania 1,488 2,997
Puerto Rico 0 0
Rhode Island 113 85
South Carolina 465 1,754
South Dakota 852 19,636
Tennessee 391 4,207
Texas 6,713 256,826
Utah 1,493 329,735
Vermont 96 126
Virginia 410 5,596
Washington 1,646 842,370
West Virginia 1,230 8,196
Wisconsin 781 1,785
Wyoming 828 339,783
United States (1) 59,362 10,270,258

(1) Includes Puerto Rico.

Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

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Top 10 States For Wildfires Ranked By Number Of Fires And By Number Of Acres Burned, 2020

 

Rank State Number of fires Rank State Number of acres burned
1 California 10,431 1 California 4,092,151
2 Texas 6,713 2 Oregon 1,141,613
3 Arizona 2,524 3 Arizona 978,568
4 Montana 2,433 4 Washington 842,370
5 Florida 2,381 5 Colorado 625,357
6 North Carolina 2,364 6 Montana 369,633
7 Oregon 2,215 7 Wyoming 339,783
8 New Jersey 1,981 8 Utah 329,735
9 Georgia 1,699 9 Idaho 314,352
10 Washington 1,646 10 Nevada 259,275

Source: National Interagency Fire Center.

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