Tornado Risk by State & County

Ranked by FEMA National Risk Index tornado hazard score · code TRND

Tornado risk reflects violently rotating columns of air capable of catastrophic local damage. FEMA's National Risk Index scores each county's tornado hazard from its expected annual loss, annualized event frequency, and exposed population. Cook County, Illinois currently leads the nation with a tornado score of 100.0 and $345M in expected annual loss. Texas, Michigan, Illinois account for much of the highest-rated tornado risk in this dataset.

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

Tornado Risk by State

#StateExpected Ann. LossAvg. ScoreRatingCounties Rated
1Texas$2.37B
56.5
Medium 254 of 254
2Illinois$876M
60.0
Medium 102 of 102
3Florida$530M
69.8
High 67 of 67
4Michigan$474M
51.7
Medium 83 of 83
5Missouri$450M
62.6
High 115 of 115
6Georgia$433M
54.0
Medium 159 of 159
7Alabama$427M
78.4
High 67 of 67
8Tennessee$423M
66.9
High 95 of 95
9Indiana$422M
66.4
High 92 of 92
10Oklahoma$370M
70.5
High 77 of 77
11Ohio$366M
60.3
High 88 of 88
12Iowa$354M
61.5
High 99 of 99
13Minnesota$348M
49.1
Medium 87 of 87
14North Carolina$342M
64.9
High 100 of 100
15Kansas$342M
50.8
Medium 105 of 105
16Kentucky$333M
54.3
Medium 120 of 120
17Wisconsin$308M
62.3
High 72 of 72
18Arkansas$288M
70.7
High 75 of 75
19Mississippi$271M
71.8
High 82 of 82
20Nebraska$259M
41.1
Medium 93 of 93
21Louisiana$247M
69.7
High 64 of 64
22South Carolina$202M
71.1
High 46 of 46
23Colorado$188M
30.6
Low 64 of 64
24Pennsylvania$153M
48.4
Medium 67 of 67
25New York$134M
54.3
Medium 62 of 62
26South Dakota$122M
38.1
Low 66 of 66
27Virginia$85M
27.3
Low 133 of 133
28New Jersey$83M
68.7
High 21 of 21
29California$54M
24.8
Low 58 of 58
30Maryland$54M
44.9
Medium 24 of 24
31North Dakota$47M
28.6
Low 53 of 53
32Massachusetts$40M
55.7
Medium 14 of 14
33Connecticut$23M
57.8
Medium 9 of 9
34New Hampshire$17M
40.6
Medium 10 of 10
35Wyoming$15M
24.5
Low 23 of 23
36West Virginia$13M
17.4
Very Low 55 of 55
37Delaware$11M
73.4
High 3 of 3
38Washington$11M
15.2
Very Low 39 of 39
39Utah$10M
12.8
Very Low 29 of 29
40New Mexico$8M
17.2
Very Low 33 of 33
41Arizona$8M
19.0
Very Low 15 of 15
42District of Columbia$7M
90.4
Very High 1 of 1
43Oregon$6M
11.1
Very Low 36 of 36
44Rhode Island$5M
35.3
Low 5 of 5
45Maine$5M
18.9
Very Low 16 of 16
46Montana$4M
9.2
Very Low 56 of 56
47Vermont$4M
17.8
Very Low 14 of 14
48Idaho$3M
7.5
Very Low 44 of 44
49Hawaii$752K
10.0
Very Low 5 of 5
50Nevada$226K
2.8
Very Low 17 of 17
51Alaska$893
0.5
Very Low 30 of 30

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

Riskiest Counties for Tornado

#CountyStateTornado ScoreRatingAnn. Freq.Ann. Loss
1Cook CountyIL
100.0
Very High 1.04 / yr$345M
2Harris CountyTX
100.0
Very High 1.61 / yr$407M
3Bexar CountyTX
99.9
Very High 0.43 / yr$124M
4Tarrant CountyTX
99.9
Very High 0.89 / yr$144M
5Collin CountyTX
99.9
Very High 0.86 / yr$420M
6Dallas CountyTX
99.8
Very High 0.93 / yr$115M
7Shelby CountyTN
99.8
Very High 0.51 / yr$70M
8Denton CountyTX
99.8
Very High 0.95 / yr$145M
9Hillsborough CountyFL
99.7
Very High 1.31 / yr$77M
10Jefferson CountyKY
99.7
Very High 0.28 / yr$80M
11Travis CountyTX
99.7
Very High 0.54 / yr$96M
12Oakland CountyMI
99.7
Very High 0.39 / yr$102M
13Hennepin CountyMN
99.6
Very High 0.46 / yr$83M
14East Baton Rouge ParishLA
99.6
Very High 0.40 / yr$52M
15Jefferson CountyAL
99.6
Very High 1.17 / yr$56M
16Wayne CountyMI
99.5
Very High 0.28 / yr$44M
17Oklahoma CountyOK
99.5
Very High 0.86 / yr$54M
18Jackson CountyMO
99.5
Very High 0.38 / yr$62M
19Hamilton CountyOH
99.4
Very High 0.27 / yr$53M
20Douglas CountyNE
99.4
Very High 0.29 / yr$64M
21Montgomery CountyTX
99.4
Very High 0.89 / yr$62M
22DuPage CountyIL
99.3
Very High 0.23 / yr$67M
23Macomb CountyMI
99.3
Very High 0.21 / yr$59M
24Sedgwick CountyKS
99.3
Very High 1.02 / yr$53M
25Fort Bend CountyTX
99.2
Very High 0.77 / yr$59M

Showing the top 25 seeded counties for tornado risk.