FEMA NRI 1.19.0Updated Nov 2023 · Coverage 2014–2023Methodology

North Carolina Disaster Risk

Natural disaster risk data for all 100 counties.

Avg FEMA Rating

Relatively Low

Avg Percentile

67th

Counties with Data

100

of 100 total

County risk atlas

North Carolina hazard exposure by county

A compact 2.5D surface of FEMA National Risk Index percentiles. Toggle composite, flood, wildfire, hurricane, tornado, and earthquake risk to see which counties carry the highest relative exposure without loading the full national explorer dataset.

Counties

100/100

Avg composite

67th

Risk layers

Highest Risk Counties

Mecklenburg County

Relatively High

97th percentile

New Hanover County

Relatively High

96th percentile

Brunswick County

Relatively High

96th percentile

Wake County

Relatively High

96th percentile

Onslow County

Relatively High

95th percentile

Lowest Risk Counties

Camden County

Very Low

3th percentile

Gates County

Very Low

10th percentile

Currituck County

Very Low

18th percentile

Graham County

Very Low

20th percentile

Caswell County

Very Low

22th percentile

All North Carolina Counties

County	Percentile	FEMA Rating	Flood	Wildfire	Tornado	Earthquake
Mecklenburg County	97th	Relatively High	99.0	62.2	97.4	93.2
New Hanover County	96th	Relatively High	89.9	83.0	90.4	81.0
Brunswick County	96th	Relatively High	89.4	93.4	87.0	82.7
Wake County	96th	Relatively High	97.7	57.4	95.3	87.8
Onslow County	95th	Relatively High	81.0	85.9	85.8	66.7
Craven County	94th	Relatively Moderate	76.0	83.3	86.4	58.1
Carteret County	93th	Relatively Moderate	88.2	88.6	45.4	42.4
Guilford County	93th	Relatively Moderate	96.6	43.8	88.7	87.8
Forsyth County	92th	Relatively Moderate	94.7	35.8	90.9	88.1
Robeson County	91th	Relatively Moderate	86.4	87.8	97.0	90.8
Wayne County	90th	Relatively Moderate	89.3	55.4	89.9	73.8
Sampson County	90th	Relatively Moderate	69.6	69.5	80.2	73.4
Pitt County	90th	Relatively Moderate	87.7	41.8	94.3	71.6
Durham County	90th	Relatively Moderate	92.4	34.5	93.5	81.9
Dare County	90th	Relatively Moderate	86.8	82.7	47.0	24.8
Cumberland County	89th	Relatively Moderate	89.2	84.2	93.0	87.5
Duplin County	89th	Relatively Moderate	66.4	65.9	83.1	68.6
Buncombe County	89th	Relatively Moderate	91.7	80.6	81.3	85.4
Union County	89th	Relatively Moderate	92.5	41.6	94.7	85.0
Beaufort County	88th	Relatively Moderate	82.2	66.3	74.6	48.1
Davidson County	87th	Relatively Moderate	91.5	49.6	86.9	76.7
Cabarrus County	87th	Relatively Moderate	92.2	50.6	89.1	77.6
Pender County	87th	Relatively Moderate	81.6	86.9	70.9	55.6
Columbus County	87th	Relatively Moderate	64.6	77.7	82.3	82.4
Johnston County	86th	Relatively Moderate	87.1	52.7	93.6	69.4
Gaston County	85th	Relatively Moderate	88.5	48.2	91.1	85.8
Lenoir County	85th	Relatively Moderate	79.1	33.7	86.5	73.5
Bladen County	85th	Relatively Moderate	65.7	84.6	78.1	70.1
Henderson County	84th	Relatively Moderate	84.0	45.3	80.6	84.6
Rowan County	83th	Relatively Moderate	84.8	47.7	85.7	83.0
Wilkes County	83th	Relatively Moderate	89.7	52.7	72.5	73.9
Iredell County	81th	Relatively Low	86.6	43.3	85.9	79.8
Randolph County	81th	Relatively Low	84.8	40.3	87.4	78.0
Nash County	81th	Relatively Low	82.5	40.8	84.9	72.4
Catawba County	81th	Relatively Low	85.1	36.6	86.3	85.9
Jackson County	80th	Relatively Low	83.2	46.3	62.2	74.4
Orange County	79th	Relatively Low	85.5	28.4	81.5	64.9
Haywood County	77th	Relatively Low	83.6	58.7	57.8	71.8
Alamance County	77th	Relatively Low	83.9	30.9	82.3	72.9
Edgecombe County	76th	Relatively Low	76.1	39.7	79.9	57.3
Wilson County	76th	Relatively Low	77.2	40.4	70.2	67.7
Moore County	76th	Relatively Low	76.4	81.8	85.7	75.7
Harnett County	75th	Relatively Low	73.9	69.1	87.1	65.6
Macon County	74th	Relatively Low	70.8	58.5	60.9	69.6
Lincoln County	74th	Relatively Low	83.2	37.8	78.4	77.5
Surry County	74th	Relatively Low	77.3	28.1	59.4	69.7
Halifax County	73th	Relatively Low	73.4	44.0	79.7	69.8
Rutherford County	73th	Relatively Low	79.2	63.2	69.8	78.6
Pamlico County	72th	Relatively Low	58.2	78.0	36.4	32.3
Rockingham County	72th	Relatively Low	83.0	23.8	56.4	67.9
Watauga County	72th	Relatively Low	80.3	40.9	60.1	68.9
Burke County	70th	Relatively Low	79.3	47.0	75.2	72.3
Cleveland County	70th	Relatively Low	75.2	40.7	79.8	81.8
Hertford County	68th	Relatively Low	50.9	31.4	47.6	53.9
Lee County	67th	Relatively Low	71.7	54.3	81.5	70.2
Caldwell County	67th	Relatively Low	79.0	52.0	62.1	77.6
Chatham County	67th	Relatively Low	74.4	33.0	75.8	61.3
Ashe County	67th	Relatively Low	76.8	47.9	39.8	52.8
Hyde County	66th	Relatively Low	84.4	74.7	21.7	19.0
Bertie County	66th	Relatively Low	46.4	36.1	62.1	46.3
Martin County	65th	Relatively Low	55.0	35.4	60.2	40.2
Jones County	65th	Relatively Low	33.2	48.4	21.8	32.0
Transylvania County	64th	Relatively Low	67.1	44.0	52.6	61.6
Scotland County	64th	Relatively Low	56.4	82.0	80.8	81.5
Greene County	63th	Relatively Low	39.5	29.4	59.0	47.2
Richmond County	61th	Relatively Low	57.6	79.9	81.2	72.2
Washington County	60th	Relatively Low	47.2	47.2	41.6	36.7
Granville County	59th	Relatively Low	65.2	35.3	67.9	62.1
McDowell County	59th	Relatively Low	72.5	59.4	56.1	61.8
Stanly County	59th	Relatively Low	69.9	24.7	65.1	63.7
Pasquotank County	59th	Relatively Low	63.4	44.5	44.5	41.5
Cherokee County	57th	Relatively Low	67.9	81.1	68.1	73.7
Franklin County	52th	Relatively Low	56.0	27.0	70.8	54.2
Warren County	51th	Relatively Low	55.9	26.6	57.7	55.4
Hoke County	50th	Relatively Low	43.3	80.2	75.8	64.9
Anson County	50th	Relatively Low	51.3	58.5	71.9	64.8
Swain County	49th	Relatively Low	62.5	60.3	35.4	63.4
Montgomery County	49th	Relatively Low	55.6	45.1	65.6	54.6
Vance County	48th	Relatively Low	55.2	17.4	63.9	56.9
Avery County	47th	Relatively Low	64.4	34.3	38.6	51.5
Tyrrell County	46th	Relatively Low	68.8	57.2	21.4	19.0
Alexander County	46th	Relatively Low	60.3	28.1	53.3	59.1
Northampton County	44th	Relatively Low	44.7	24.9	54.7	49.3
Yancey County	42th	Very Low	55.4	51.8	35.1	52.0
Davie County	42th	Very Low	58.6	23.1	37.2	55.2
Person County	42th	Very Low	54.5	20.9	54.9	58.8
Stokes County	40th	Very Low	58.0	16.1	35.9	53.2
Yadkin County	38th	Very Low	53.2	17.5	47.5	54.8
Perquimans County	38th	Very Low	52.2	29.1	35.2	22.5
Polk County	37th	Very Low	46.7	43.5	53.7	51.7
Alleghany County	35th	Very Low	41.1	45.8	27.5	43.8
Chowan County	34th	Very Low	52.0	26.0	27.1	32.0
Madison County	27th	Very Low	46.8	62.6	25.3	47.6
Clay County	27th	Very Low	43.8	64.3	44.5	47.9
Mitchell County	24th	Very Low	39.8	33.4	26.6	42.2
Caswell County	22th	Very Low	37.7	24.1	39.5	38.8
Graham County	20th	Very Low	38.0	49.6	26.8	51.2
Currituck County	18th	Very Low	57.6	57.2	21.9	22.0
Gates County	10th	Very Low	40.8	13.0	22.3	28.1
Camden County	3th	Very Low	50.2	24.0	13.6	12.4

Frequently Asked Questions

Which county in North Carolina has the highest natural disaster risk?

Mecklenburg County has the highest natural disaster risk in North Carolina, rated Relatively High (97th percentile nationally), based on FEMA National Risk Index data.

Which county in North Carolina is the safest from natural disasters?

Camden County has the lowest natural disaster risk in North Carolina, rated Very Low (3th percentile nationally), based on FEMA NRI data.

What natural disasters are most common in North Carolina?

North Carolina counties face varying levels of risk from floods, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The FEMA National Risk Index scores each county across 18 hazard types. See individual county pages for detailed hazard breakdowns.

How is natural disaster risk measured by county?

The FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) measures natural disaster risk using expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Scores are normalized nationally, with ratings from Very Low to Very High across 18 natural hazard types.

Prepare your household for natural disasters

FEMA's Ready.gov provides county-specific preparedness checklists and emergency planning guides.

FEMA Ready Guide →

Data Source

Risk data sourced from the FEMA National Risk Index (NRI). Risk scores are relative rankings (0–100) across all US counties — not absolute risk measures. Higher scores indicate higher relative risk compared to other counties.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not financial, insurance, or legal advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making insurance or real estate decisions.

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