Current Table

Top 10 Costliest Natural Catastrophes, United States (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property loss
Rank Year Peril Dollars when occurred In 2020 dollars (2)
1 2005 Hurricane Katrina $65,000 $85,570
2 2012 Hurricane Sandy 30,000 33,530
3 2017 Hurricane Harvey 30,000 31,590
4 2017 Hurricane Irma 29,900 31,320
5 2017 Hurricane Maria 29,670 31,100
6 1992 Hurricane Andrew 16,000 29,360
7 1994 Northridge Earthquake 15,300 27,060
8 2008 Hurricane Ike 18,200 21,510
9 2012 Drought loss 14,390 16,420
10 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,670 13,840

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least $25 million in insured losses; or 10 deaths; or 50 people injured; or 2,000 filed claims or homes and structures damaged. Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of November 25, 2020.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.

 

Archived Tables

THE TEN MOST COSTLY CATASTROPHES, UNITED STATES (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property losses
Rank Date Peril Dollars when occurred In 2013 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina $41,100 $47,622
2 Sep. 2001 Fire, explosion: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks 18,779 23,895
3 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew 15,500 23,386
4 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy 18,750 19,033
5 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake 12,500 18,038
6 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike 12,500 13,426
7 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,300 11,934
8 Aug. 2004 Hurricane Charley 7,475 8,939
9 Sep. 2004 Hurricane Ivan 7,110 8,502
10 Apr. 2011 Flooding, hail and wind including the tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa and other locations 7,300 7,540

(1) Property coverage only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2013 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.

Source: The Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company.

 
TOP 10 MOST COSTLY CATASTROPHES, UNITED STATES (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property losses
Rank   Date Peril Dollars when occurred In 2014 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina $41,100 $48,383
2 Sep. 2001 Fire, explosion: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks 18,779 24,279
3 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew 15,500 23,785
4 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy 18,750 19,307
5 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake 12,500 18,345
6 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike 12,500 13,639
7 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,300 12,125
8 Aug. 2004 Hurricane Charley 7,475 9,083
9 Sep. 2004 Hurricane Ivan 7,110 8,639
10 Apr. 2011 Flooding, hail and wind including the tornadoes that struck
Tuscaloosa and other locations		 7,300 7,652

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2014 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.

Source: Property Claim Services (PCS®), a Verisk Analytics® business.

 
Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property loss
Rank   Date Peril Dollars when occurred In 2015 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina $41,100 $49,047
2 Sep. 2001 Fire, explosion: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks 18,779 24,613
3 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew 15,500 24,111
4 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy 18,750 19,563
5 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake 12,500 18,597
6 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike 12,500 13,826
7 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,300 12,292
8 Aug. 2004 Hurricane Charley 7,475 9,207
9 Sep. 2004 Hurricane Ivan 7,110 8,758
10 Apr. 2011 Flooding, hail and wind including the tornadoes that struck
Tuscaloosa and other locations		 7,300 7,757

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2015 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.

Source: Property Claim Services (PCS®), a Verisk Analytics® business.

 
Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property losses
Rank Date Peril Dollars when occurred In 2016 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina $ 41,100 $ 49,793
2 Sep. 2001 Fire, Explosion: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks 18,779 24,987
3 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew 15,500 24,478
4 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy 18,750 19,860
5 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake 12,500 18,880
6 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike 12,500 14,036
7 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,300 12,479
8 Aug. 2004 Hurricane Charley 7,475 9,348
9 Sep. 2004 Hurricane Ivan 7,110 8,891
10 Apr. 2011 Flooding, hail and wind including the tornadoes
that struck Tuscaloosa and other locations		 7,300 7,875

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2016 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.

Source: The Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company.

 
Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property loss
Rank Date Peril Dollars when occurred In 2017 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina $41,100 $50,751
2 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Maria (3) (3)
3 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Irma (3) (3)
4 Sep. 2001 September 11: Fire, Explosion: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks 18,779 25,405
5 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy 18,750 20,240
6 Aug. 2017 Hurricane Harvey (3) (3)
7 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew 15,500 24,852
8 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake 12,500 19,169
9 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike 12,500 14,311
10 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma 10,300 12,719

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on dollars when occurred. As of December 11, 2018.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2017 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator.
(3) Loss estimate not yet available from PCS, but a relative ranking is provided.

Source: The Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

 
Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1)
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($ millions)

      Estimated insured property loss
Rank Date Peril Location Dollars when occurred In 2018 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, TN $41,100 $51,882
2 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Maria (3) PR, USVI 25,000-30,000 25,600-30,700
3 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Irma (3) AL, FL, GA, NC, PR, SC, USVI 20,000-25,000 20,400-25,600
4 Sep. 2001 September 11: Fire, Explosion:
World Trade Center,
Pentagon terrorist attacks		 NY, VA 18,779 25,958
5 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ,
NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV		 18,750 20,688
6 Aug. 2017 Hurricane Harvey (3) AL, LA, MS, NC, TN, TX 16,000-19,000 16,400-19,400
7 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew FL, LA 15,500 25,404
8 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake CA 12,500 19,595
9 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, OH, PA, TX 12,500 14,631
10 Oct. 2005 Hurricane Wilma FL 10,300 13,002

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on dollars when occurred. As of March 6, 2019.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2018 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator.
(3) Insurance Information Institute estimate based on data from catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, the Property Claims Services unit of Verisk Analytics,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. These estimates are preliminary
because the organizations involved periodically resurvey the events, and the severity of losses and other factors create a high level of uncertainty surrounding the
ultimate loss figures.

Source: Insurance Information Institute, catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation,
the Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company, and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

 
Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1)
Export To Excel

($ millions)

        Estimated insured property loss
Rank Date Peril Location Dollars when occurred In 2018 dollars (2)
1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, TN $41,100 $51,882
2 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Maria (3) PR, USVI 25,000-30,000 25,600-30,700
3 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Irma (3) AL, FL, GA, NC, PR, SC, USVI 22,000-27,000 22,500-27,600
4 Aug. 2017 Hurricane Harvey (3) AL, LA, MS, NC, TN, TX 18,000-20,000 18,400-20,400
5 Sep. 2001 September 11: Fire, Explosion:
World Trade Center,
Pentagon terrorist attacks		 NY, VA 18,779 25,958
6 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ,
NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV		 18,750 20,688
7 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew FL, LA 15,500 25,404
8 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake CA 12,500 19,595
9 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, OH, PA, TX 12,500 14,631
10 Oct. 2018 Hurricane Michael (3) AL, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA 8,000-13,000 8,000-13,000

(1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on dollars when occurred. As of November 20, 2019.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2018 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator.
(3) Insurance Information Institute estimate based on data from catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, the Property Claims Services unit of Verisk Analytics, the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. These estimates are preliminary because the organizations involved periodically resurvey the events, and the severity of losses and other factors create a high level of uncertainty surrounding the ultimate loss figures.

Source: Insurance Information Institute, catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company, and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.