Disasters: FEMA’s declarations and the counties they name

FEMA has made 5,286 declarations from May 2, 1953 to October 27, 2026: 2,948 major disasters, 660 emergencies and 1,678 fire management declarations, each counted once however many counties it names. For any one of them, FEMA’s declarations page is the authority.

The declarations, to November 2, 2026

45
Major disasters declared in 2025: 2025; Distinct declarations, by the date FEMA declared them.; 58
Major disasters declared in 2026 so far: 2026, to November 2, 2026; A part of a year, not a year.; 1,134
Declarations still open: as of November 2, 2026; FEMA prints no closeout date for them.

About these figures

Major disasters declared in 2025: Distinct declarations, by the date FEMA declared them.
Major disasters declared in 2026 so far: A part of a year, not a year.
Declarations still open: FEMA prints no closeout date for them.

What stands out

Five findings. From FEMA’s OpenFEMA declarations dataset, each one a row from a query.

45 major disasters were declared in 2025, and 58 in 2026 through November 2, 2026. A declaration is a federal decision on a request for aid, not a count of the events that happened. United States →
Oklahoma had 62 major disasters declared since January 1, 2000, the most of the 59 states and territories FEMA names; 61 without the COVID-19 declarations. Oklahoma →
2 counties lead the 3,241 named in a major disaster since 2000, at 29 each: Clay County, Kentucky and Owsley County, Kentucky. Each declaration is counted once for a county, however many of its rows name it. Clay County, Kentucky and Owsley County, Kentucky →
The most major disasters declared in one calendar year was 104, in 2020. Without COVID-19's Biological declarations the most was 100, in 2024. 2020 →
Fire is FEMA's incident type on the most declarations: 1,787 declarations, 82 of them major disasters, from July 2, 1953 to October 16, 2026. Fire →

What changed in this release

This is the hub’s first release, retrieved on November 4, 2026: 45 major disaster declarations by FEMA in 2025.

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Declarations by year, by type

Major disaster declarations peaked at 104 in 2020; 45 were declared in 2025

FEMA’s declarations by the calendar year they were declared, by type: major disasters, emergencies and fire management assistance. Each is one declaration, however many counties it names. A declaration is a decision on a request, not a count of the events that happened.

COVID-19’s declarations, FEMA’s incident type Biological, are among the major disasters and emergencies of 2020 and 2021; the table gives the major disasters without them.

2026 is in the table and not drawn: the file runs to November 2, 2026, and a part of a year is not a year.

Source: FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries

About this chart

The figures

Major disaster declarations peaked at 104 in 2020; 45 were declared in 2025. FEMA’s declarations by the calendar year they were declared, by type: major disasters, emergencies and fire management assistance. Each is one declaration, however many counties it names. A declaration is a decision on a request, not a count of the events that happened.
Year	Major disasters	Major, without COVID-19	Emergencies	Fire management
1953	13	13	0	0
1954	17	17	0	0
1955	18	18	0	0
1956	16	16	0	0
1957	16	16	0	0
1958	7	7	0	0
1959	7	7	0	0
1960	12	12	0	0
1961	12	12	0	0
1962	22	22	0	0
1963	20	20	0	0
1964	25	25	0	0
1965	25	25	0	0
1966	11	11	0	0
1967	10	10	0	0
1968	18	18	0	0
1969	29	29	0	0
1970	17	17	0	2
1971	17	17	0	3
1972	48	48	0	0
1973	46	46	0	9
1974	46	46	5	2
1975	38	38	6	1
1976	28	28	8	7
1977	22	22	34	5
1978	25	25	14	2
1979	41	41	10	7
1980	23	23	6	2
1981	15	15	0	3
1982	24	24	3	0
1983	21	21	1	2
1984	34	34	4	4
1985	27	27	0	9
1986	28	28	0	1
1987	23	23	1	7
1988	11	11	0	5
1989	31	31	0	1
1990	38	38	0	5
1991	43	43	0	2
1992	45	45	2	6
1993	32	32	19	7
1994	36	36	1	20
1995	32	32	2	4
1996	75	75	8	75
1997	44	44	0	3
1998	65	65	9	54
1999	50	50	20	40
2000	45	45	6	63
2001	45	45	11	44
2002	49	49	0	69
2003	56	56	19	48
2004	68	68	7	43
2005	48	48	68	39
2006	52	52	5	86
2007	63	63	13	60
2008	75	75	17	51
2009	59	59	7	49
2010	81	81	9	18
2011	99	99	29	114
2012	47	47	16	49
2013	62	62	5	28
2014	45	45	6	33
2015	43	43	2	34
2016	46	46	7	50
2017	59	59	16	62
2018	59	59	14	51
2019	61	61	15	25
2020	104	47	133	78
2021	58	56	22	40
2022	47	47	10	33
2023	71	71	13	30
2024	100	100	20	62
2025	45	45	7	67
2026 (so far)	58	58	30	64

Embed this chart

Paste this where you want the chart. The picture carries its title, source and credit, under the site’s license.

<figure style="margin:0;max-width:960px">
  <img src="https://americanfactbook.org/embed/chart/disasters-declarations-by-year.svg" alt="Major disaster declarations peaked at 104 in 2020; 45 were declared in 2025" style="width:100%;height:auto" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption style="font:13px/1.4 system-ui,sans-serif">Chart: <a href="https://americanfactbook.org/disasters">Major disaster declarations peaked at 104 in 2020; 45 were declared in 2025</a>, American Factbook, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a></figcaption>
</figure>

Declarations by FEMA’s incident type

2 more columns on a wider screen

Declarations by FEMA's incident type, each counted once, to November 2, 2026
Incident type	Declarations	Major disasters	Emergencies	Fire management
Fire	1,787	82	27	1,678
Severe Storm	1,147	1,106	41	0
Flood	930	888	42	0
Hurricane	458	280	178	0
Tornado	183	164	19	0
Snowstorm	171	76	95	0
Biological	167	59	108	0
Severe Ice Storm	75	61	14	0
Typhoon	62	57	5	0
Drought	46	10	36	0
Tropical Storm	45	18	27	0
Earthquake	37	34	3	0
Other	36	10	26	0
Winter Storm	36	22	14	0
Coastal Storm	31	20	11	0
Freezing	18	18	0	0
Mud/Landslide	13	12	1	0
Toxic Substances	8	3	5	0
Dam/Levee Break	6	4	2	0
Fishing Losses	6	5	1	0
Straight-Line Winds	6	6	0	0
Volcanic Eruption	6	6	0	0
Human Cause	4	2	2	0
Tsunami	3	3	0	0
Chemical	2	0	2	0
Terrorist	2	1	1	0
Tropical Depression	1	1	0	0

The counties named in the most major disasters since 2000

Of the 3,241 counties named in a major disaster declared since January 1, 2000, these are at tenth place or above. Each declaration is counted once for a county, however many of its rows name it; the count without COVID-19’s declarations is beside each.

2 more columns on a wider screen

Counties by major disaster declarations naming them, January 1, 2000 to November 2, 2026
Rank	County	State	Major disasters	Without COVID-19
1	Clay County	Kentucky	29	28
1	Owsley County	Kentucky	29	28
3	Lawrence County	Kentucky	28	27
4	Johnson County	Kentucky	27	26
4	Perry County	Kentucky	27	26
6	Floyd County	Kentucky	26	25
6	Lee County	Kentucky	26	25
6	Magoffin County	Kentucky	26	25
6	Caddo County	Oklahoma	26	25
6	Okfuskee County	Oklahoma	26	25

Declarations by state

Major disasters declared since 2000 run from 9 to 62 a state, the most in Oklahoma

Major disaster declarations FEMA made for each state from January 1, 2000, to November 2, 2026. A count of declarations, not a rate, and not a measure of how severe an event was.

Too small to see on the map:District of Columbia12

A count of declarations, each counted once for a state however many of its counties it names, and not a rate: a declaration is a decision on a request for aid.

American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands are in the table and the rankings and not drawn: the map is of the 50 states and DC.

Source: FEMA's Disaster Declarations Summaries

About this chart

The figures

Major disasters declared since 2000 run from 9 to 62 a state, the most in Oklahoma. Major disaster declarations FEMA made for each state from January 1, 2000, to November 2, 2026. A count of declarations, not a rate, and not a measure of how severe an event was.
State	Major disasters since 2000	Without COVID-19	All declarations
Alabama	41	39	103
Alaska	47	46	95
Arizona	23	21	120
Arkansas	41	40	89
California	53	52	398
Colorado	13	12	112
Connecticut	15	14	43
Delaware	12	11	26
District of Columbia	12	11	24
Florida	44	42	190
Georgia	25	24	82
Hawaii	24	23	77
Idaho	18	17	61
Illinois	24	23	68
Indiana	23	22	56
Iowa	42	41	79
Kansas	51	50	96
Kentucky	50	49	99
Louisiana	37	36	111
Maine	30	29	71
Maryland	17	16	38
Massachusetts	20	19	59
Michigan	14	13	46
Minnesota	30	29	81
Mississippi	47	46	99
Missouri	49	48	88
Montana	31	30	113
Nebraska	46	45	88
Nevada	9	8	116
New Hampshire	34	33	64
New Jersey	25	24	59
New Mexico	24	23	128
New York	45	44	118
North Carolina	29	28	85
North Dakota	39	38	76
Ohio	25	24	61
Oklahoma	62	61	260
Oregon	25	24	174
Pennsylvania	21	20	64
Rhode Island	11	10	31
South Carolina	21	20	51
South Dakota	45	44	98
Tennessee	49	48	97
Texas	40	39	392
Utah	12	11	62
Vermont	38	37	62
Virginia	32	31	77
Washington	33	32	223
West Virginia	46	45	86
Wisconsin	23	22	57
Wyoming	10	9	45

Everything in this hub

Every page in this topic, by kind.

Questions10

One question per page, answered in the first sentence with the figure.

Rankings3

Each list ordered by one measure, with the figure behind every entry.

States59

One page per state and the District of Columbia.

Sources

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, v2 — Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA · U.S. Government work · retrieved November 4, 2026
This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Census Bureau county population estimates — U.S. Census Bureau · retrieved September 23, 2026

Compiled automatically from OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, v2 and Census Bureau county population estimates by a checked SQL query · Editor: Kian O'Connor · How this site is built

How to cite this page

Cite the page’s address and the date printed on it, and name Federal Emergency Management Agency, OpenFEMA and U.S. Census Bureau as the source of the figures.

American Factbook. “Disasters.” Updated November 4, 2026. https://americanfactbook.org/disasters. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, v2, https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2.

Data retrieved November 4, 2026