Tornado Damage by State: 14,271 Tornadoes in NOAA Records, 2015 to 2025

Counting tornadoes, not rows

The Storm Events files hold 16,489 Tornado rows for 2015 to 2025, but that is not the number of tornadoes. Each row is one tornado in one county. When a tornado crosses a county line, the row for the county it leaves names the next county in the TOR_OTHER_CZ fields, and the next county gets a row of its own (NCEI Storm Data bulk CSV format documentation). Chaining those links gives 14,271 tornadoes (NOAA). Of them, 1,789 crossed at least one county line and 210 crossed a state line; the longest chain runs through 14 counties (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

This report uses each unit for what it measures. Dollars, deaths and county rankings are summed over rows, because each row carries its own figures and nothing is entered twice. Counts, EF ratings, path lengths and seasonality use tornadoes. A tornado that crosses a state line is counted once in each state it touched, so state counts add up to more than the national 14,271. Of 2,251 links, 20 found no partner row and are left as separate tornadoes (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

The state ranking by reported damage

The 12 states with the most reported tornado property damage hold 89% of the 50-state and DC total of $13.3 billion for 2015 to 2025 (NOAA). Texas leads on dollars and on tornado count. Oklahoma, second by count with 940 tornadoes, ranks 9th on dollars. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

State	Tornadoes	County records	Reported damage	Records with no estimate	Median positive estimate	Damage per resident	Deaths
Texas	1,363	1,502	$2.34 billion	17%	$75,000	$75	49
Missouri	548	647	$1.94 billion	15%	$75,000	$310	31
Tennessee	327	421	$1.90 billion	11%	$50,000	$263	63
Florida	555	588	$1.01 billion	17%	$50,000	$43	12
Arkansas	403	466	$744.9 million	10%	$60,000	$241	15
Ohio	376	429	$662.2 million	5%	$50,000	$56	5
Louisiana	625	712	$635.8 million	9%	$50,000	$138	23
Iowa	703	831	$632.2 million	15%	$50,000	$195	15
Oklahoma	940	1,077	$619.6 million	2%	$30,000	$151	23
Mississippi	865	1,097	$562.0 million	5%	$40,000	$191	68
North Carolina	304	339	$445.1 million	16%	$50,000	$40	9
Georgia	522	637	$389.2 million	27%	$50,000	$35	37
Illinois	820	958	$249.4 million	5%	$50,000	$20	15
Michigan	151	163	$234.4 million	15%	$100,000	$23	5
South Carolina	284	320	$127.1 million	55%	$50,000	$23	9
Indiana	355	405	$124.1 million	11%	$50,000	$18	8
Virginia	158	182	$113.0 million	9%	$50,000	$13	5
Kansas	674	734	$107.5 million	25%	$60,000	$36	0
Wisconsin	313	351	$82.7 million	12%	$79,500	$14	1
Kentucky	338	414	$65.6 million	31%	$60,000	$14	98
Alabama	733	896	$49.7 million	26%	$53,300	$10	57
Maryland	73	82	$49.4 million	23%	$240,000	$8	2
Minnesota	530	591	$46.0 million	24%	$95,000	$8	1
Pennsylvania	244	265	$45.6 million	20%	$25,000	$3	1
Nebraska	469	513	$42.9 million	34%	$100,000	$21	0
South Dakota	225	228	$21.2 million	50%	$80,000	$23	1
California	72	73	$20.7 million	22%	$20,000	$1	0
North Dakota	282	298	$17.1 million	47%	$150,000	$22	4
New York	112	114	$12.0 million	31%	$37,000	$1	5
Massachusetts	38	39	$11.9 million	5%	$10,000	$2	0
New Jersey	47	55	$5.5 million	69%	$117,000	$1	0
New Mexico	121	122	$5.2 million	15%	$100,000	$2	0
West Virginia	43	45	$3.9 million	4%	$50,000	$2	0
Colorado	456	471	$3.0 million	19%	$31,250	$0	0
Utah	21	21	$2.3 million	0%	$1,150,000	$1	0
Washington	24	24	$1.8 million	4%	$40,000	$0	0
Oregon	29	29	$1.6 million	7%	$25,000	$0	0
Montana	41	41	$1.6 million	15%	$50,000	$1	0
Rhode Island	9	9	$1.4 million	0%	$30,000	$1	0
Connecticut	31	31	$1.3 million	26%	$30,000	$0	0
Arizona	63	63	$965,000	2%	$50,000	$0	0
Wyoming	107	110	$952,000	47%	$20,000	$2	0
Delaware	16	18	$200,000	83%	$200,000	$0	1
District of Columbia	4	4	$200,000	50%	$100,000	$0	0
Vermont	5	5	$135,000	40%	$50,000	$0	0
New Hampshire	12	14	$94,000	43%	$5,000	$0	0
Nevada	11	11	$20,000	27%	$20,000	$0	0
Idaho	21	21	$14,500	24%	$1,000	$0	0
Maine	10	11	$4,000	82%	$2,000	$0	0
Hawaii	1	1	$0	0%	n/a	$0	0
Alaska	1	1	$0	0%	n/a	$0	0

Island areas in the STATE column are kept out of the ranking: Puerto Rico, 9 county records, $197,500 reported damage; Virgin Islands, 1 county record, $0 reported damage. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Per resident: a different top ten

Raw totals favour large states. Divided by 2025 population, and limited to states with at least 50 tornadoes, Missouri leads at $310 of reported damage per resident over 11 years, then Tennessee, Arkansas and Iowa (NOAA, Census). North Dakota has the most tornadoes per million residents (354). Sources: NOAA NCEI Storm Events; Census Vintage 2025.

Deaths per million residents give another order. Among states with at least 10 tornado deaths, the rate is highest in Mississippi (23.1) and Kentucky (21.4), against 1.6 in Texas (NOAA, Census).

State	Deaths	Direct deaths	Deaths per million	Tornadoes	Reported damage
Mississippi	68	65	23.1	865	$562.0 million
Kentucky	98	95	21.4	338	$65.6 million
Alabama	57	57	11.1	733	$49.7 million
Tennessee	63	63	8.7	327	$1.90 billion
Oklahoma	23	23	5.6	940	$619.6 million
Louisiana	23	22	5.0	625	$635.8 million
Missouri	31	29	5.0	548	$1.94 billion
Arkansas	15	14	4.9	403	$744.9 million
Iowa	15	14	4.6	703	$632.2 million
Georgia	37	32	3.3	522	$389.2 million
Texas	49	49	1.6	1,363	$2.34 billion
Illinois	15	15	1.2	820	$249.4 million
Florida	12	12	0.5	555	$1.01 billion

Where the dollars are missing

NOAA separates a recorded zero from a missing estimate. Of 16,489 Tornado rows, 7,656 (46%) carry a positive damage figure, 5,939 are entered as 0.00K and 2,894 are blank, meaning no estimate was entered (NOAA). The median positive estimate is $50,000 (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

The gaps are not spread evenly. In Kentucky, the state with the most tornado deaths, 31% of county records are blank, and the deadliest tornado in the window shows it most clearly: it began in Obion County, Tennessee, in December 2021, tracked 169 miles, is linked to 58 deaths and 515 injuries, and carries $25,000 of reported damage. 12 of its 14 county segments have no estimate (NOAA). Any ranking by reported dollars gives that tornado almost no weight. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

State	County records	Records with no estimate	Reported damage	Deaths
New Jersey	55	69%	$5.5 million	0
South Carolina	320	55%	$127.1 million	9
South Dakota	228	50%	$21.2 million	1
Wyoming	110	47%	$952,000	0
North Dakota	298	47%	$17.1 million	4
Nebraska	513	34%	$42.9 million	0

A blank is not a zero. NWS Instruction 10-1605, Storm Data Preparation (26 July 2021) sets out how damage estimates are entered (section 2.7), and the file does not say why one is missing. State totals in this report are therefore floors for reported damage, not measures of total loss. For the largest events valued on a different basis, see the billion-dollar disaster record.

Strength: the EF scale and the losses

Each tornado is rated on the Enhanced Fujita scale from surveyed damage (NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Enhanced Fujita Scale); here a tornado takes the highest rating among its county segments. EF0 and EF1 tornadoes make up 79% of the count and 9% of reported damage (NOAA). EF3 and stronger make up 2.1% of the count, 63% of damage and 77% of deaths (NOAA). The window holds a single EF5 rating: North Dakota, June 2025, with 3 deaths and no damage estimate in the file (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Rating	Tornadoes	Share	Deaths	Deaths per tornado	Reported damage	Median positive estimate	Median path (miles)	Median width (yards)
EF0	6,010	42.1%	2	0.00	$155.9 million	$20,000	0.9	50
EF1	5,252	36.8%	31	0.01	$1.01 billion	$75,000	3.0	150
EF2	1,195	8.4%	96	0.08	$3.74 billion	$500,000	7.1	300
EF3	266	1.9%	220	0.83	$7.03 billion	$3,525,000	12.7	600
EF4	32	0.2%	211	6.59	$1.40 billion	$19,775,000	35.2	1,310
EF5	1	0.0%	3	3.00	no estimate	n/a	19.8	1,850
EFU	1,515	10.6%	0	0.00	$248,000	$5,000	0.5	30

Path size climbs with rating. The median EF0 track is 0.9 miles long and 50 yards wide; the median EF4 track is 35.2 miles and 1,310 yards (NOAA). The median positive damage estimate rises from $20,000 per EF0 tornado to $19.8 million per EF4 (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

The counties behind the totals

Tornado rows are keyed to counties, so the state totals can be broken down. 2,552 counties and county equivalents in the 50 states and DC recorded at least one tornado from 2015 to 2025 (NOAA). The costliest, Dallas County, Texas, carries $1.99 billion, of which $1.55 billion sits in a single record from October 2019 (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

County	State	County records	Reported damage	Largest record	Month of largest record	Deaths
Dallas	Texas	16	$1.99 billion	$1.55 billion	October 2019	10
St. Louis city	Missouri	1	$1.60 billion	$1.60 billion	May 2025	4
Davidson	Tennessee	18	$1.10 billion	$1.09 billion	March 2020	5
Montgomery	Ohio	11	$502.3 million	$500.0 million	May 2019	1
St. Lucie	Florida	12	$497.7 million	$475.0 million	October 2024	6
Wilson	Tennessee	17	$410.6 million	$409.0 million	March 2020	3
Craighead	Arkansas	19	$308.5 million	$300.0 million	March 2020	1
Nash	North Carolina	5	$301.8 million	$300.0 million	July 2023	0
Dougherty	Georgia	2	$300.0 million	$300.0 million	January 2017	5
Ouachita	Louisiana	8	$251.0 million	$250.0 million	April 2020	0
Marshall	Iowa	7	$200.0 million	$200.0 million	July 2018	0
Leon	Florida	16	$185.2 million	$92.1 million	May 2024	2

The counties logged most often are a different list. Washington County, Colorado, leads with 87 tornado records and $15,000 of reported damage (NOAA). Together the 12 most frequently hit counties report $221.2 million, 1.7% of the national total (NOAA). Frequency does not track loss in this file. The deadliest county is Graves County, Kentucky, with 24 deaths (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

County	State	Tornado records	EF3 or stronger records	Reported damage	Deaths
Washington	Colorado	87	0	$15,000	0
Hinds	Mississippi	46	0	$4.3 million	0
Rankin	Mississippi	41	0	$3.6 million	0
Cleveland	Oklahoma	39	1	$102.9 million	0
Mobile	Alabama	39	0	$75,000	0
Palm Beach	Florida	38	1	$83.1 million	0
Harris	Texas	38	1	$23.5 million	1
Will	Illinois	37	0	$450,000	0
Kit Carson	Colorado	37	0	$89,500	0
Weld	Colorado	36	0	$530,500	0
Grand Forks	North Dakota	36	0	$35,000	0
Leake	Mississippi	34	0	$2.5 million	0

For the counties FEMA designates most often after disasters of every kind, see the most-declared counties. A Storm Events record needs no federal declaration, and most tornadoes never lead to one.

Outbreak days

Tornado deaths cluster on a few days. The 10 deadliest calendar days in the window hold 47% of the 563 deaths (NOAA). Days are dated by each tornado’s local start time, so a tornado that began after midnight falls on the next date. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Date	States	Tornadoes	EF3 or stronger	Deaths	Reported damage
10 December 2021	Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and others	33	5	74	$47.5 million
16 May 2025	Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and others	26	4	25	$1.66 billion
3 March 2020	Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky	9	2	24	$1.60 billion
31 March 2023	Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and others	119	10	24	$404.5 million
24 March 2023	Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and others	20	3	23	$191.1 million
3 March 2019	Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and others	45	2	23	$5.2 million
12 April 2020	Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and others	70	6	22	$338.5 million
11 December 2021	Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and others	38	3	18	$13.2 million
22 January 2017	Georgia, Alabama, Florida	22	2	16	$314.1 million
12 January 2023	Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and others	42	2	15	$540,000

Dollars are concentrated too. The 10 costliest tornadoes hold 54% of reported damage (NOAA). The costliest, beginning in St. Louis County, Missouri, in May 2025, carries $1.60 billion; the second, beginning in Dallas County, Texas, in October 2019, carries $1.55 billion. EF ratings shown in the file are as stored. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Spring peak, Southern winter

May has the most tornadoes, 3,184 of 14,271, but March has the most deaths (142), and December, with 739 tornadoes, recorded 133 deaths (NOAA). Restoration demand by month across hazards is set out in the restoration seasonality calendar. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

The calendar differs by state. Nationally, 16% of tornadoes fall between November and February; in Mississippi the share is 37% and in Alabama 37%, while Wyoming sits at 0% (NOAA). Among states with at least 100 tornadoes, the table shows the 6 highest and 3 lowest shares. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

State	Tornadoes	November to February	Share	Deaths
Mississippi	865	322	37%	68
Alabama	733	272	37%	57
Georgia	522	176	34%	37
Tennessee	327	109	33%	63
Louisiana	625	173	28%	23
Kentucky	338	93	28%	98
North Dakota	282	0	0%	4
Colorado	456	0	0%	0
Wyoming	107	0	0%	0

After dark

Begin times in the file are local standard time. Of 14,271 tornadoes, 6,007 (42%) began between 18:00 and 06:00; those tornadoes account for 367 of 563 deaths (65%) and 158 of 299 EF3 or stronger tornadoes (NOAA). The file records when a tornado began, not where people were or whether a warning reached them, so it cannot say why. For safety guidance, see National Weather Service tornado safety. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Year by year

Annual tornado counts range from 983 in 2016 to 1,787 in 2024, an average of 1,297 a year (NOAA). 2021 has the most deaths (107); 2016 has the lowest reported damage ($181.2 million). 11 years dominated by single outbreaks are too short to read a trend (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Year	County records	Tornadoes	EF3 or stronger	Deaths	Reported damage	Records with no estimate
2015	1,320	1,176	21	36	$317.9 million	15%
2016	1,081	983	28	18	$181.2 million	14%
2017	1,663	1,446	15	37	$633.3 million	15%
2018	1,256	1,131	12	12	$670.3 million	16%
2019	1,737	1,521	36	44	$3.09 billion	14%
2020	1,253	1,088	24	77	$2.50 billion	18%
2021	1,545	1,319	24	107	$232.6 million	18%
2022	1,384	1,169	24	24	$698.4 million	24%
2023	1,522	1,323	31	91	$1.37 billion	23%
2024	2,137	1,787	46	53	$1.72 billion	17%
2025	1,591	1,328	38	64	$1.91 billion	19%

Partial year, not ranked: the 2026 details file (StormEvents_details-ftp_v1.0_d2026_c20260918.csv.gz) held 990 Tornado records, 854 tornadoes after chaining and 13 deaths at retrieval, with the latest record beginning in June 2026 (NOAA). It is not comparable with the full years above. Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

What the records say for restoration work

For contractors, the volume sits at the low end of the scale. EF0 and EF1 tornadoes are 79% of the count; 62% of EF1 tornadoes carry a positive estimate, with a median of $75,000, and 40% of EF0 tornadoes, with a median of $20,000 (NOAA). The large losses sit higher: the 1,494 tornadoes rated EF2 or stronger, 10% of the count, carry 91% of reported damage (NOAA). Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events.

Storm Events damage is one figure per county record. It does not split wind and debris damage from water entering through breached roofs and broken windows, or contents from structure, so the share of tornado losses that becomes water damage work cannot be read from this file. For how work volume swings from year to year across hazards, see the restoration demand volatility index; for federal recovery spending by state, FEMA spending by state. Sibling reports cover hurricane damage by state and flash flood deaths by state, and the full set sits on the data hub.

Data treatment

Rule	Records affected	Treatment
Blank DAMAGE_PROPERTY (no estimate)	2,894	Excluded from damage sums and medians; shown as a share.
DAMAGE_PROPERTY entered as 0.00K	5,939	Kept as zero in totals; medians use positive estimates only.
County links with no partner row	20	Left as separate tornadoes.
Rows with no begin coordinates	9	Linked on time only where a link names them.
Island areas in the STATE column	10	Reported separately, not ranked.
Rows not keyed to a county (CZ_TYPE not C)	0	Would be excluded; none occur.
Duplicate EVENT_ID	0	None found, so no record is counted twice.
Rows missing the tornado columns	0	Would be treated as unrated; none occur.
Partial year 2026	990	Excluded from every ranking; reported in one labelled note.

Method

Reproduce this

What this does not show

Questions this report answers

Which state has the most tornado damage?

Texas, with $2.34 billion of reported property damage in NOAA Storm Events records from 2015 to 2025, followed by Missouri at $1.94 billion. Per resident, Missouri ranks first (NOAA NCEI).

Which state has the most tornado deaths?

Kentucky, with 98 deaths from 2015 to 2025, followed by Mississippi with 68 (NOAA NCEI).

How many tornadoes hit the US each year?

An average of 1,297 a year in NOAA records from 2015 to 2025, after joining county segments of the same tornado, ranging from 983 in 2016 to 1,787 in 2024 (NOAA NCEI).

How much tornado damage comes from EF3 or stronger tornadoes?

63% of reported damage and 77% of deaths, from 2.1% of tornadoes, 2015 to 2025 (NOAA NCEI).

Why does Kentucky’s tornado damage look low?

31% of its tornado records have no damage estimate in the file, including most segments of its deadliest tornado, so reported dollars understate the loss (NOAA NCEI).

When is tornado season in the South?

The records show more cool-season tornadoes in the South. In Mississippi, 37% of tornadoes from 2015 to 2025 fell between November and February, against 16% nationally (NOAA NCEI).