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

Virginia Disaster Risk

Natural disaster risk data for all 133 counties.

Avg FEMA Rating

Very Low

Avg Percentile

33th

Counties with Data

133

of 133 total

County risk atlas

Virginia 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

133/133

Avg composite

33th

Risk layers

Highest Risk Counties

Fairfax County

Relatively High

95th percentile

Chesterfield County

Relatively Moderate

85th percentile

Henrico County

Relatively Moderate

83th percentile

Prince William County

Relatively Moderate

83th percentile

Norfolk city

Relatively Moderate

81th percentile

Lowest Risk Counties

Norton city

Very Low

2th percentile

Falls Church city

Very Low

2th percentile

Poquoson city

Very Low

2th percentile

Williamsburg city

Very Low

2th percentile

Highland County

Very Low

3th percentile

All Virginia Counties

County	Percentile	FEMA Rating	Flood	Wildfire	Tornado	Earthquake
Fairfax County	95th	Relatively High	97.0	34.0	54.5	92.8
Chesterfield County	85th	Relatively Moderate	89.5	44.0	76.8	89.6
Henrico County	83th	Relatively Moderate	85.4	34.5	81.0	93.4
Prince William County	83th	Relatively Moderate	88.0	18.2	76.5	80.9
Norfolk city	81th	Relatively Moderate	82.4	32.9	74.1	78.1
Accomack County	81th	Relatively Moderate	96.8	79.5	18.0	51.1
Chesapeake city	81th	Relatively Low	82.9	66.4	71.8	71.1
Richmond city	78th	Relatively Low	82.6	18.0	66.8	92.7
Albemarle County	78th	Relatively Low	85.1	64.3	52.2	85.6
Loudoun County	78th	Relatively Low	83.9	37.4	74.7	77.9
Rockingham County	75th	Relatively Low	84.6	64.4	29.1	67.0
Alexandria city	74th	Relatively Low	81.8	5.7	39.9	80.0
Roanoke city	73th	Relatively Low	84.1	8.5	33.0	74.7
Newport News city	72th	Relatively Low	71.4	34.6	74.1	76.3
Augusta County	69th	Relatively Low	80.2	72.0	34.1	70.6
Danville city	68th	Relatively Low	81.5	13.8	61.5	64.2
Arlington County	67th	Relatively Low	73.8	5.7	44.1	73.0
Stafford County	65th	Relatively Low	75.5	18.2	52.2	70.5
Pittsylvania County	64th	Relatively Low	77.4	44.6	40.4	67.0
Henry County	64th	Relatively Low	76.6	22.3	43.7	67.9
Hampton city	62th	Relatively Low	80.4	24.3	56.1	65.0
Tazewell County	60th	Relatively Low	75.1	57.7	15.4	68.1
Suffolk city	60th	Relatively Low	61.0	55.6	55.7	54.0
Shenandoah County	60th	Relatively Low	73.9	63.4	27.3	56.6
Virginia Beach city	58th	Relatively Low	67.4	55.8	66.7	67.5
Smyth County	58th	Relatively Low	61.9	31.3	21.1	61.5
Lee County	57th	Relatively Low	72.8	80.6	34.9	60.4
Mecklenburg County	54th	Relatively Low	56.6	24.3	33.8	65.0
Portsmouth city	54th	Relatively Low	64.2	19.8	51.0	64.9
Hanover County	53th	Relatively Low	61.5	31.7	51.0	83.8
James City County	53th	Relatively Low	60.8	46.4	51.1	61.1
Spotsylvania County	53th	Relatively Low	65.3	17.4	44.7	76.2
Roanoke County	52th	Relatively Low	69.2	32.3	24.6	57.9
Bedford County	51th	Relatively Low	68.3	66.6	25.1	60.2
Buchanan County	51th	Relatively Low	70.2	72.0	9.9	48.1
Wise County	50th	Relatively Low	66.3	84.3	21.6	57.8
Lynchburg city	49th	Relatively Low	65.3	8.7	31.8	73.0
Wythe County	49th	Relatively Low	50.3	21.3	14.8	61.0
Fauquier County	48th	Relatively Low	65.8	34.8	16.5	61.2
Montgomery County	48th	Relatively Low	63.6	37.0	23.7	73.4
Halifax County	47th	Relatively Low	54.4	25.5	34.3	63.3
Washington County	47th	Relatively Low	63.5	33.2	30.1	72.7
Culpeper County	46th	Relatively Low	62.0	35.5	31.3	65.1
Pulaski County	46th	Relatively Low	65.8	25.9	17.7	68.0
Carroll County	45th	Relatively Low	42.7	55.9	30.4	47.5
Frederick County	45th	Relatively Low	60.0	57.8	33.4	59.7
York County	45th	Relatively Low	57.9	55.9	42.4	54.3
Northampton County	44th	Relatively Low	57.2	29.8	22.6	32.3
Franklin County	43th	Very Low	62.2	38.1	17.9	55.2
Scott County	42th	Very Low	65.0	52.3	19.9	64.5
Northumberland County	40th	Very Low	68.4	19.6	27.2	38.9
Alleghany County	38th	Very Low	56.3	18.1	9.4	34.2
Isle of Wight County	38th	Very Low	61.8	48.4	32.3	46.1
Page County	38th	Very Low	56.6	53.3	18.9	43.1
Westmoreland County	37th	Very Low	64.8	16.6	26.9	47.5
Russell County	37th	Very Low	48.2	54.4	16.4	55.1
Nelson County	34th	Very Low	58.2	46.7	19.7	45.4
Rockbridge County	33th	Very Low	55.8	59.1	16.0	38.1
Prince Edward County	32th	Very Low	25.3	12.8	26.6	65.2
Lancaster County	32th	Very Low	60.6	18.4	21.4	42.9
Louisa County	32th	Very Low	38.5	22.7	33.3	76.4
Campbell County	32th	Very Low	49.7	43.0	23.0	61.0
Warren County	32th	Very Low	55.7	36.4	24.7	45.2
Southampton County	30th	Very Low	29.8	15.8	23.4	42.2
Nottoway County	29th	Very Low	12.8	8.8	24.4	59.6
Brunswick County	28th	Very Low	28.8	21.5	23.0	44.1
Harrisonburg city	27th	Very Low	44.2	10.6	23.2	65.1
Orange County	26th	Very Low	35.6	30.6	25.4	61.9
Grayson County	25th	Very Low	28.4	45.6	18.6	39.9
Charlottesville city	24th	Very Low	33.3	0.3	24.3	70.9
Middlesex County	24th	Very Low	58.0	31.4	23.2	36.9
Gloucester County	23th	Very Low	66.6	45.2	29.9	42.5
Powhatan County	21th	Very Low	29.7	12.8	26.0	72.2
Amherst County	21th	Very Low	41.6	45.1	22.2	54.4
Patrick County	21th	Very Low	42.3	22.3	21.3	37.5
Caroline County	21th	Very Low	26.8	19.4	30.2	59.9
Lunenburg County	20th	Very Low	17.1	15.4	22.9	52.8
Cumberland County	20th	Very Low	16.5	8.1	17.6	60.5
Dinwiddie County	19th	Very Low	22.1	21.9	28.1	55.4
Buckingham County	19th	Very Low	24.8	20.7	22.6	62.9
Salem city	19th	Very Low	44.8	1.4	12.6	49.0
Essex County	19th	Very Low	55.6	10.2	22.9	43.2
Botetourt County	18th	Very Low	42.4	25.1	12.0	35.7
Dickenson County	18th	Very Low	37.6	83.3	8.4	36.0
Greensville County	18th	Very Low	16.2	12.2	19.9	40.8
Charlotte County	17th	Very Low	19.8	11.3	17.8	45.7
Hopewell city	17th	Very Low	48.6	3.2	33.1	64.0
Petersburg city	17th	Very Low	36.2	15.1	29.0	66.1
Winchester city	17th	Very Low	31.9	5.2	25.3	63.0
Manassas city	17th	Very Low	31.7	0.8	28.5	55.9
Giles County	17th	Very Low	42.2	12.9	10.2	43.2
King and Queen County	16th	Very Low	51.6	17.6	19.1	34.4
Goochland County	16th	Very Low	28.7	9.5	24.8	71.5
New Kent County	14th	Very Low	52.8	27.3	24.9	41.0
Prince George County	14th	Very Low	40.0	24.2	28.0	51.8
Fluvanna County	13th	Very Low	26.1	16.3	23.5	67.3
Sussex County	13th	Very Low	17.3	19.9	20.8	43.5
Bland County	13th	Very Low	29.5	6.4	5.0	27.5
King George County	13th	Very Low	43.6	12.4	12.3	39.7
Mathews County	12th	Very Low	80.0	40.1	16.8	33.4
Amelia County	12th	Very Low	11.4	6.3	19.8	49.5
Staunton city	11th	Very Low	30.4	11.2	15.5	41.4
Richmond County	10th	Very Low	48.2	4.1	20.3	33.6
Waynesboro city	10th	Very Low	31.1	2.6	16.4	48.3
Covington city	10th	Very Low	23.6	0.2	5.4	26.9
Martinsville city	10th	Very Low	23.1	0.6	26.9	60.7
Charles City County	9th	Very Low	45.2	21.6	17.5	37.0
Greene County	9th	Very Low	24.8	42.8	14.2	42.0
Fredericksburg city	9th	Very Low	20.6	1.7	21.0	57.5
Bristol city	9th	Very Low	23.1	0.6	16.5	59.5
Madison County	8th	Very Low	19.5	39.8	13.9	44.3
King William County	8th	Very Low	50.6	8.9	19.4	36.6
Franklin city	8th	Very Low	16.6	2.1	19.9	36.5
Clarke County	7th	Very Low	16.6	33.0	14.5	34.8
Rappahannock County	7th	Very Low	20.5	38.5	12.1	27.6
Galax city	7th	Very Low	13.2	23.7	13.7	34.5
Floyd County	7th	Very Low	17.3	49.4	11.0	28.2
Craig County	6th	Very Low	26.2	8.7	5.2	18.3
Colonial Heights city	6th	Very Low	43.0	1.7	21.6	41.1
Bath County	5th	Very Low	16.7	21.0	4.4	21.6
Fairfax city	5th	Very Low	13.5	1.0	20.1	47.8
Appomattox County	5th	Very Low	14.7	21.3	15.1	41.2
Emporia city	5th	Very Low	13.5	0.9	16.3	37.6
Manassas Park city	5th	Very Low	15.1	0.4	16.6	32.8
Surry County	5th	Very Low	42.0	16.9	14.2	28.1
Lexington city	4th	Very Low	13.1	2.3	9.5	46.2
Buena Vista city	3th	Very Low	16.4	1.0	7.4	22.3
Radford city	3th	Very Low	11.4	2.7	8.1	44.8
Highland County	3th	Very Low	11.7	13.3	3.1	13.5
Williamsburg city	2th	Very Low	37.4	8.2	19.0	40.5
Poquoson city	2th	Very Low	62.4	17.4	13.0	23.9
Falls Church city	2th	Very Low	5.4	0.1	13.0	30.1
Norton city	2th	Very Low	7.3	23.6	10.8	31.8

Frequently Asked Questions

Which county in Virginia has the highest natural disaster risk?

Fairfax County has the highest natural disaster risk in Virginia, rated Relatively High (95th percentile nationally), based on FEMA National Risk Index data.

Which county in Virginia is the safest from natural disasters?

Norton city has the lowest natural disaster risk in Virginia, rated Very Low (2th percentile nationally), based on FEMA NRI data.

What natural disasters are most common in Virginia?

Virginia 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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