Earthquake Risk by State & County

Ranked by FEMA National Risk Index earthquake hazard score · code ERQK

Earthquake risk reflects ground shaking from sudden movement along geologic faults. FEMA's National Risk Index scores each county's earthquake hazard from its expected annual loss, annualized event frequency, and exposed population. Los Angeles County, California currently leads the nation with a earthquake score of 100.0 and $4.57B in expected annual loss. California, Washington, Utah account for much of the highest-rated earthquake risk in this dataset.

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

Earthquake Risk by State

#StateExpected Ann. LossAvg. ScoreRatingCounties Rated
1California$14.85B
93.1
Very High 58 of 58
2Washington$2.53B
81.2
Very High 39 of 39
3Oregon$1.20B
78.8
High 36 of 36
4Utah$869M
68.2
High 29 of 29
5Tennessee$746M
78.5
High 95 of 95
6Alaska$664M
69.1
High 30 of 30
7Illinois$470M
73.6
High 102 of 102
8Missouri$463M
60.5
High 115 of 115
9South Carolina$374M
83.4
Very High 46 of 46
10Nevada$366M
80.9
Very High 17 of 17
11Arkansas$331M
77.5
High 75 of 75
12Hawaii$247M
72.8
High 5 of 5
13Kentucky$242M
60.3
High 120 of 120
14New York$234M
62.6
High 62 of 62
15New Jersey$168M
88.1
Very High 21 of 21
16Indiana$166M
65.5
High 92 of 92
17Georgia$165M
56.3
Medium 159 of 159
18Pennsylvania$148M
55.9
Medium 67 of 67
19Mississippi$121M
65.5
High 82 of 82
20Alabama$120M
68.8
High 67 of 67
21Arizona$103M
73.9
High 15 of 15
22Virginia$100M
53.5
Medium 133 of 133
23North Carolina$99M
62.3
High 100 of 100
24Ohio$84M
57.9
Medium 88 of 88
25Massachusetts$83M
76.3
High 14 of 14
26Montana$77M
39.9
Low 56 of 56
27New Mexico$64M
49.2
Medium 33 of 33
28District of Columbia$61M
98.3
Very High 1 of 1
29Idaho$59M
57.4
Medium 44 of 44
30Maryland$50M
65.7
High 24 of 24
31Texas$48M
26.6
Low 254 of 254
32Colorado$41M
42.8
Medium 64 of 64
33Connecticut$37M
81.4
Very High 9 of 9
34Oklahoma$36M
46.8
Medium 77 of 77
35Michigan$32M
30.5
Low 83 of 83
36Wyoming$24M
62.3
High 23 of 23
37Louisiana$23M
49.1
Medium 64 of 64
38Florida$21M
41.7
Medium 67 of 67
39New Hampshire$17M
67.2
High 10 of 10
40Maine$14M
60.0
High 16 of 16
41Delaware$13M
85.0
Very High 3 of 3
42Kansas$10M
23.8
Low 105 of 105
43West Virginia$9M
37.3
Low 55 of 55
44Iowa$8M
21.3
Low 99 of 99
45Rhode Island$8M
68.1
High 5 of 5
46Wisconsin$7M
19.1
Very Low 72 of 72
47Vermont$6M
48.2
Medium 14 of 14
48Nebraska$3M
13.2
Very Low 93 of 93
49South Dakota$2M
16.9
Very Low 66 of 66
50Minnesota$1M
8.7
Very Low 87 of 87
51North Dakota$487K
6.9
Very Low 53 of 53

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

Riskiest Counties for Earthquake

#CountyStateEarthquake ScoreRatingAnn. Freq.Ann. Loss
1Los Angeles CountyCA
100.0
Very High 0.09 / yr$4.57B
2Alameda CountyCA
100.0
Very High 0.14 / yr$1.35B
3Orange CountyCA
99.9
Very High 0.10 / yr$1.02B
4Santa Clara CountyCA
99.9
Very High 0.18 / yr$1.19B
5King CountyWA
99.9
Very High 0.05 / yr$1.21B
6Riverside CountyCA
99.8
Very High 0.12 / yr$764M
7San Bernardino CountyCA
99.8
Very High 0.11 / yr$922M
8San Francisco CountyCA
99.8
Very High 0.10 / yr$662M
9San Diego CountyCA
99.7
High 0.11 / yr$426M
10Contra Costa CountyCA
99.7
High 0.13 / yr$519M
11Ventura CountyCA
99.7
High 0.08 / yr$392M
12San Mateo CountyCA
99.7
High 0.14 / yr$497M
13Salt Lake CountyUT
99.6
High 0.02 / yr$488M
14Multnomah CountyOR
99.6
High 0.02 / yr$326M
15Pierce CountyWA
99.6
High 0.04 / yr$364M
16Shelby CountyTN
99.5
High 0.01 / yr$215M
17Sonoma CountyCA
99.5
High 0.12 / yr$284M
18Anchorage MunicipalityAK
99.5
High 0.16 / yr$353M
19Santa Barbara CountyCA
99.4
High 0.05 / yr$168M
20Kern CountyCA
99.4
High 0.08 / yr$184M
21Monterey CountyCA
99.4
High 0.16 / yr$182M
22San Joaquin CountyCA
99.3
High 0.11 / yr$184M
23Snohomish CountyWA
99.3
High 0.04 / yr$247M
24Santa Cruz CountyCA
99.3
High 0.16 / yr$190M
25Fresno CountyCA
99.2
High 0.11 / yr$136M

Showing the top 25 seeded counties for earthquake risk.