Drought Risk by State & County

Ranked by FEMA National Risk Index drought hazard score · code DRGT

Drought risk reflects extended dry periods that stress water supplies and agriculture. FEMA's National Risk Index scores each county's drought hazard from its expected annual loss, annualized event frequency, and exposed population. Fresno County, California currently leads the nation with a drought score of 100.0 and $223M in expected annual loss. California, Texas, Mississippi account for much of the highest-rated drought risk in this dataset.

Read the full drought risk guide — how FEMA scores it and how to prepare →

Drought Risk by State

#StateExpected Ann. LossAvg. ScoreRatingCounties Rated
1California$1B
79.5
High 58 of 58
2Texas$411M
72.0
High 254 of 254
3Iowa$223M
86.7
Very High 99 of 99
4Nebraska$103M
74.3
High 93 of 93
5Kansas$101M
66.1
High 105 of 105
6Oklahoma$96M
81.3
Very High 77 of 77
7Illinois$83M
70.6
High 102 of 102
8Virginia$76M
48.6
Medium 133 of 133
9Georgia$55M
53.5
Medium 159 of 159
10Louisiana$53M
71.4
High 64 of 64
11Missouri$47M
55.3
Medium 115 of 115
12New Mexico$43M
64.8
High 33 of 33
13Mississippi$39M
60.3
High 82 of 82
14Minnesota$34M
53.0
Medium 87 of 87
15North Carolina$29M
54.1
Medium 100 of 100
16South Dakota$27M
46.6
Medium 66 of 66
17Arkansas$27M
46.6
Medium 75 of 75
18Maryland$25M
73.4
High 24 of 24
19Colorado$22M
43.6
Medium 64 of 64
20Indiana$21M
45.0
Medium 92 of 92
21Pennsylvania$21M
19.9
Very Low 67 of 67
22Alabama$17M
53.9
Medium 67 of 67
23Kentucky$16M
32.1
Low 120 of 120
24Tennessee$12M
42.4
Medium 95 of 95
25New Jersey$11M
61.4
High 21 of 21
26Arizona$11M
58.4
Medium 15 of 15
27Florida$11M
39.4
Low 67 of 67
28Ohio$11M
28.7
Low 88 of 88
29Massachusetts$6M
49.7
Medium 14 of 14
30South Carolina$6M
46.0
Medium 46 of 46
31New York$6M
20.8
Low 62 of 62
32Nevada$6M
54.4
Medium 17 of 17
33Utah$5M
43.8
Medium 29 of 29
34Maine$4M
51.3
Medium 16 of 16
35Delaware$4M
85.1
Very High 3 of 3
36West Virginia$3M
29.7
Low 55 of 55
37Wisconsin$3M
25.7
Low 72 of 72
38New Hampshire$2M
29.4
Low 10 of 10
39Montana$1M
27.9
Low 56 of 56
40North Dakota$1M
26.7
Low 53 of 53
41Oregon$965K
17.3
Very Low 36 of 36
42Connecticut$727K
36.8
Low 9 of 9
43Michigan$668K
5.5
Very Low 83 of 83
44Wyoming$503K
24.2
Low 23 of 23
45Rhode Island$271K
32.2
Low 5 of 5
46Idaho$142K
17.3
Very Low 44 of 44
47Washington$125K
14.4
Very Low 39 of 39
48Hawaii$37K
17.4
Very Low 5 of 5
49District of Columbia$0
0.0
Very Low 1 of 1
50Vermont$0
0.0
Very Low 14 of 14
51Alaska$0
0.4
Very Low 30 of 30

States ranked by total expected annual drought losses; the average score is the mean over all counties, counting unrated counties as zero.

Riskiest Counties for Drought

#CountyStateDrought ScoreRatingAnn. Freq.Ann. Loss
1Fresno CountyCA
100.0
Very High 88.24 / yr$223M
2Monterey CountyCA
100.0
Very High 94.43 / yr$81M
3San Joaquin CountyCA
99.9
Very High 68.55 / yr$83M
4Merced CountyCA
99.9
Very High 74.16 / yr$70M
5Madera CountyCA
99.9
Very High 84.81 / yr$63M
6Santa Barbara CountyCA
99.8
Very High 83.14 / yr$65M
7Stanislaus CountyCA
99.8
Very High 73.59 / yr$71M
8Lubbock CountyTX
99.8
Very High 76.01 / yr$62M
9Butte CountyCA
99.7
Very High 66.57 / yr$26M
10Kings CountyCA
99.7
Very High 76.77 / yr$34M
11Parmer CountyTX
99.7
Very High 100.13 / yr$43M
12Colusa CountyCA
99.7
Very High 84.37 / yr$29M
13San Luis Obispo CountyCA
99.6
Very High 89.59 / yr$29M
14Yolo CountyCA
99.6
Very High 75.35 / yr$29M
15Sutter CountyCA
99.6
Very High 64.85 / yr$21M
16Napa CountyCA
99.5
Very High 60.05 / yr$21M
17Warren CountyMS
99.5
Very High 14.46 / yr$15M
18Glenn CountyCA
99.5
High 85.27 / yr$21M
19Sacramento CountyCA
99.4
High 62.96 / yr$14M
20Santa Cruz CountyCA
99.4
High 38.24 / yr$18M
21Doña Ana CountyNM
99.4
High 73.79 / yr$11M
22Sonoma CountyCA
99.3
High 33.50 / yr$14M
23Solano CountyCA
99.3
High 67.40 / yr$12M
24Cimarron CountyOK
99.3
High 151.01 / yr$7M
25Santa Clara CountyCA
99.2
High 63.64 / yr$11M

Showing the top 25 seeded counties for drought risk.