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The 19 States With Over 100,000 Homes Inside the 100-Year Flood Zone
When you’re trying to figure out what risk you have of home flooding issues, the “100-year flood zone” is a concept that will likely come up at some point. However, many people don’t know what this means or how to really assess whether they’re likely to experience flooding in different areas. Here’s what you need to know to keep your home from flooding.
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What Is the 100-Year Flood Zone?
The “100-year flood zone” is a term used to describe homes that have a 1% chance of flooding per year. Therefore, statistically, you would expect that the home would experience flooding once per hundred years.
Of course, in practice, it rarely shakes out exactly like that. Homes in the 100-year flood zone may flood twice in a year or may not flood for 150 years. That’s one of the reasons that the common complaint, “My home hasn’t flooded for over 100 years, so I must not be in the 100-year flood zone!” isn’t actually correct. Statistics don’t always perfectly reflect reality. Over a 30-year mortgage, a home in the 100-year flood zone has about a 26% chance of flooding.
It’s also important to remember that some homes in the 100-year flood zone are also in the 50-year flood zone (a 2% chance of flooding per year) and 10-year flood zone (a 10% chance of flooding per year). The 100-year flood zone gives you information about the low end of the spectrum of risk, not necessarily the high end.
What States Have the Highest Levels of Homes Inside the 100-Year Flood Zone?
Different states have different numbers of homes inside the 100-year flood zone. Every location has some homes inside this zone, but not all have the same level of risk. These are the 19 states that have more than 100,000 homes inside the zone.
- 1,893,920 – Florida
- 611,937 – Texas
- 388,325 – California
- 269,165 – New York
- 247,341 – Louisiana
- 231,038 – Georgia
- 230,313 – New Jersey
- 225,079 – North Carolina
- 181,393 – Massachusetts
- 172,156 – South Carolina
- 160,839 – Pennsylvania
- 159,918 – Ohio
- 153,168 – Virginia
- 145,578 – Mississippi
- 140,620 – Missouri
- 128,846 – Alabama
- 121,354 – Indiana
- 118,485 – Illinois
- 112,100 – Wisconsin
You can see a significant tendency toward the top few states in this list. There are 11 states between 100,000-200,000, five between 200,000-300,000 and only three above that. Florida is definitely the riskiest of all states, with a full three times more homes in the 100-year flood zone than the second riskiest state, Texas.
Conclusion
Just because a home is in the 100-year flood zone, that doesn’t necessarily mean the home is going to flood anytime soon, but it doesn’t mean the home is going to stay safe and dry for the next 100 years. If your home is in the 100-year flood zone, you need to make sure that you’re paying attention to it.
Get in touch with a local expert to make sure your home is prepared for any flooding problems that you might experience over time, and make sure you invest in flooding insurance if the expert recommends it due to your location.
About the Author Laura Bennett
Hello, I’m Laura Bennett. I love nature especially when it comes to flowers and different kinds of plants. I started a very small garden behind my house and I named it Humid Garden. So, I created this blog to provide aspiring and inspiring thoughts about gardening for gardeners and anyone who has the intention of keeping a garden.
