FEMA Spending by State: 1998 to 2026 Disaster Aid, Ranked

Three money streams, and why COVID-19 sits apart

The FEMA disaster summaries carry three separate streams of money for each declaration. The Individuals and Households Program (IHP) pays households directly for housing and other needs. Public Assistance (PA) reimburses state, local, tribal and territorial governments and some nonprofits for emergency work and for rebuilding public facilities. The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds projects meant to reduce future losses. Together they are what this report calls FEMA spending. They are not the whole federal response: flood insurance claims, SBA disaster loans and HUD recovery grants sit outside this file. Our report on FEMA buyouts by state tracks where hazard mitigation money buys out flood-prone homes.

Stream	All declarations	COVID-19 only	Excluding COVID-19	COVID-19 share
Household aid (IHP)	$40.1 billion	$3.3 billion	$36.9 billion	8.1%
Public Assistance	$288.5 billion	$97.9 billion	$190.6 billion	33.9%
Hazard mitigation (HMGP)	$17.7 billion	$1.5 billion	$16.2 billion	8.4%
All three	$346.3 billion	$102.6 billion	$243.7 billion	29.6%
Declarations with any amount	2,993	79	2,914

The chart is the reason for the split. COVID-19 was declared as a Biological incident in 56 states, territories and the District of Columbia, almost all in 2020, and its $97.9 billion of Public Assistance is 33.9% of every PA dollar in the file. That money paid mostly for emergency protective measures such as testing, vaccination sites and non-congregate sheltering: 100.0% of its categorised dollars are emergency work, per FEMA data. It followed population rather than physical damage, so it tells a restoration contractor nothing about where buildings were wrecked.

State	COVID-19 Public Assistance	Share of COVID-19 PA	Non-COVID rank
New York	$17.34 billion	17.7%	3
California	$14.67 billion	15.0%	7
Texas	$14.38 billion	14.7%	6
Florida	$4.90 billion	5.0%	4
Massachusetts	$3.49 billion	3.6%	33
New Jersey	$3.22 billion	3.3%	10
Maryland	$3.27 billion	3.3%	43
Washington	$2.99 billion	3.1%	30
Pennsylvania	$2.35 billion	2.4%	22
Louisiana	$2.30 billion	2.3%	2

New York, California and Texas top the COVID-19 table, which tracks large populations. The rest of this report sets COVID-19 aside, and every state figure from here on excludes the 79 Biological declarations.

FEMA spending by state, ranked

State or territory	Total	Share of US	Public Assistance	Household aid	Mitigation	Major disasters	Median major disaster
Puerto Rico	$42.51 billion	17.4%	$38.88 billion	$2.62 billion	$1.01 billion	21	$26,503,958
Louisiana	$35.49 billion	14.6%	$24.05 billion	$8.78 billion	$2.66 billion	39	$20,008,293
New York	$27.25 billion	11.2%	$23.82 billion	$1.50 billion	$1.93 billion	46	$33,781,165
Florida	$25.18 billion	10.3%	$17.13 billion	$6.00 billion	$2.04 billion	46	$93,246,243
US Virgin Islands	$22.40 billion	9.2%	$22.09 billion	$0.08 billion	$0.22 billion	11	$1,798,899
Texas	$15.48 billion	6.4%	$9.05 billion	$4.90 billion	$1.52 billion	43	$58,973,632
California	$10.43 billion	4.3%	$8.83 billion	$0.59 billion	$1.00 billion	53	$41,895,716
Mississippi	$6.41 billion	2.6%	$4.18 billion	$1.80 billion	$0.42 billion	48	$14,842,880
North Carolina	$6.25 billion	2.6%	$4.74 billion	$0.94 billion	$0.57 billion	31	$34,836,438
New Jersey	$4.82 billion	2.0%	$3.52 billion	$0.90 billion	$0.40 billion	25	$18,212,071
Georgia	$3.33 billion	1.4%	$2.62 billion	$0.53 billion	$0.18 billion	25	$31,112,027
Iowa	$3.06 billion	1.3%	$2.28 billion	$0.28 billion	$0.50 billion	42	$9,910,327
Kentucky	$2.57 billion	1.1%	$1.93 billion	$0.40 billion	$0.24 billion	48	$20,336,451
Tennessee	$2.53 billion	1.0%	$1.95 billion	$0.43 billion	$0.15 billion	51	$14,781,930
Alabama	$2.16 billion	0.9%	$1.29 billion	$0.63 billion	$0.24 billion	41	$12,197,376
South Carolina	$2.14 billion	0.9%	$1.48 billion	$0.50 billion	$0.16 billion	22	$16,201,194
Oklahoma	$2.03 billion	0.8%	$1.69 billion	$0.12 billion	$0.21 billion	61	$7,716,289
Missouri	$1.90 billion	0.8%	$1.35 billion	$0.25 billion	$0.31 billion	49	$20,925,451
Illinois	$1.83 billion	0.8%	$0.43 billion	$1.28 billion	$0.12 billion	24	$24,307,191
Kansas	$1.38 billion	0.6%	$1.23 billion	$0.03 billion	$0.13 billion	50	$8,333,103

Puerto Rico sits first because of one event: Hurricane Maria in 2017 accounts for 88.4% of its non-COVID total. Louisiana, first among the 50 states, is similar: Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is 57.9% of its total, per FEMA data. The median column is the better guide to what a typical declared disaster has meant in each place.

The bottom of the ranking is not shown in full, but the long tail is real: of 57 states and territories with any non-COVID FEMA aid, 27 received less than $1 billion across the whole period. For the household side of the same ledger, including grant sizes and approval rates, see the disaster grant ledger. For how often each state is declared at all, see the most declared counties.

Per resident

Dividing by population changes the order. The figure below is non-COVID FEMA aid since 1998 divided by the 2025 resident population from the US Census Bureau. It is a scale adjustment, not a measure of what any resident received: the money was spread across nearly three decades and most of it went to governments rather than households.

State or territory	Non-COVID total	Per resident	Times the median
Puerto Rico	$42.51 billion	$13,270	43.0
Louisiana	$35.49 billion	$7,718	25.0
Mississippi	$6.41 billion	$2,177	7.1
Vermont	$0.93 billion	$1,432	4.6
New York	$27.25 billion	$1,372	4.4
North Dakota	$0.99 billion	$1,242	4.0
Alaska	$0.84 billion	$1,130	3.7
Florida	$25.18 billion	$1,077	3.5
Iowa	$3.06 billion	$943	3.1
Hawaii	$1.24 billion	$855	2.8
West Virginia	$1.22 billion	$688	2.2
Nebraska	$1.32 billion	$660	2.1
New Mexico	$1.28 billion	$603	2.0
South Dakota	$0.55 billion	$592	1.9
North Carolina	$6.25 billion	$566	1.8
Idaho	$0.11 billion	$54	0.2
Delaware	$0.05 billion	$52	0.2
Utah	$0.16 billion	$45	0.1
Nevada	$0.09 billion	$29	0.1
Arizona	$0.17 billion	$23	0.1

Puerto Rico leads at $13,270 per resident, 43.0 times the median, followed by Louisiana at $7,718. Arizona is lowest at $23. Territories without a population figure in the source table are left out of this ranking rather than estimated: US Virgin Islands ($22.40 billion), Northern Mariana Islands ($0.55 billion), Guam ($0.42 billion), American Samoa ($0.22 billion), Federated States of Micronesia ($0.03 billion). US Virgin Islands ranks 5th on total dollars despite a small population, so its absence here should not be read as low exposure.

Households or infrastructure

Nationally, outside COVID-19, FEMA obligated 5.2 dollars of Public Assistance for every dollar of household aid it approved. The balance varies widely by state. It reflects what each state’s disasters damaged, homes or public facilities, and the mix of declaration types: fire management and many ice storm declarations carry no household aid at all. The summary file records the split but not the reason for it.

State or territory	Household aid	Public Assistance	Household share	PA per household dollar
Michigan	$0.92 billion	$0.25 billion	78.8%	0.3
Illinois	$1.28 billion	$0.43 billion	74.8%	0.3
Texas	$4.90 billion	$9.05 billion	35.1%	1.8
Pennsylvania	$0.41 billion	$0.82 billion	33.4%	2.0
Alabama	$0.63 billion	$1.29 billion	32.9%	2.0
Mississippi	$1.80 billion	$4.18 billion	30.1%	2.3
Louisiana	$8.78 billion	$24.05 billion	26.8%	2.7
Florida	$6.00 billion	$17.13 billion	25.9%	2.9
New Mexico	$0.05 billion	$1.17 billion	4.2%	22.7
Oregon	$0.05 billion	$1.17 billion	3.9%	24.6
Nebraska	$0.03 billion	$1.18 billion	2.9%	33.8
Kansas	$0.03 billion	$1.23 billion	2.5%	39.2
US Virgin Islands	$0.08 billion	$22.09 billion	0.4%	260.0

Michigan has the highest household share at 78.8%; the US Virgin Islands the lowest at 0.4%. For a restoration firm this is a read on who holds the money after a declaration in each market. Where the public share dominates, the post-disaster work is procured by governments and utilities. Where the household share is higher, more of the federal money reaches homeowners and renters directly, although FEMA household aid is capped and is not a repair budget.

Emergency response or rebuilding

Public Assistance is split into categories. Categories A and B cover debris removal and emergency protective measures, the response phase. Categories C to G cover permanent work on roads and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings and contents, utilities, and parks. Outside COVID-19, 64.3% of categorised Public Assistance ($112.8 billion) went to permanent work and 35.7% ($62.7 billion) to emergency work, per FEMA data.

State or territory	Emergency work (A, B)	Permanent work (C to G)	Permanent share
Kansas	$0.11 billion	$1.08 billion	90.4%
US Virgin Islands	$1.95 billion	$17.73 billion	90.1%
Nebraska	$0.14 billion	$0.98 billion	87.3%
Puerto Rico	$5.94 billion	$30.10 billion	83.5%
West Virginia	$0.18 billion	$0.68 billion	78.9%
Pennsylvania	$0.21 billion	$0.58 billion	73.2%
New York	$5.73 billion	$15.26 billion	72.7%
Washington	$0.21 billion	$0.54 billion	71.8%
Oregon	$0.57 billion	$0.32 billion	36.1%
California	$5.13 billion	$2.03 billion	28.4%
Florida	$11.79 billion	$4.65 billion	28.3%
South Carolina	$1.03 billion	$0.39 billion	27.4%
Georgia	$1.92 billion	$0.56 billion	22.5%

Kansas has the highest permanent share at 90.4%, and Georgia the lowest at 22.5%. A high permanent share points to a long reconstruction phase on public facilities after the event; a low one points to money spent mostly in the response phase. Category E, public buildings and contents, is the category closest to restoration work, but this summary file reports categories C to G only as one combined figure, so it cannot be isolated here.

The disasters that dominate the ledger

Disaster	State or territory	Year	Incident	Total	Public Assistance	Household aid
DR-4339 Hurricane Maria	Puerto Rico	2017	Hurricane	$37.58 billion	$35.57 billion	$1.34 billion
DR-4340 Hurricane Maria	US Virgin Islands	2017	Hurricane	$22.24 billion	$22.00 billion	$0.04 billion
DR-1603 Hurricane Katrina	Louisiana	2005	Hurricane	$20.54 billion	$13.61 billion	$5.25 billion
DR-4480 COVID-19 Pandemic	New York	2020	Biological	$17.80 billion	$17.34 billion	$0.26 billion
DR-4085 Hurricane Sandy	New York	2012	Hurricane	$17.25 billion	$14.86 billion	$1.01 billion
DR-4482 COVID-19 Pandemic	California	2020	Biological	$14.98 billion	$14.66 billion	$0.25 billion
DR-4485 COVID-19 Pandemic	Texas	2020	Biological	$14.88 billion	$14.38 billion	$0.28 billion
DR-4332 Hurricane Harvey	Texas	2017	Hurricane	$5.25 billion	$3.01 billion	$1.66 billion
DR-4486 COVID-19 Pandemic	Florida	2020	Biological	$5.16 billion	$4.90 billion	$0.18 billion
DR-4611 Hurricane Ida	Louisiana	2021	Hurricane	$5.04 billion	$3.64 billion	$1.24 billion
DR-1391 Fires and Explosions	New York	2001	Fire	$5.00 billion	$4.73 billion	$0.00 billion
DR-1604 Hurricane Katrina	Mississippi	2005	Hurricane	$4.85 billion	$3.22 billion	$1.29 billion
DR-4673 Hurricane Ian	Florida	2022	Hurricane	$4.27 billion	$2.86 billion	$1.15 billion
DR-4337 Hurricane Irma	Florida	2017	Hurricane	$3.93 billion	$2.41 billion	$1.02 billion
DR-4496 COVID-19 Pandemic	Massachusetts	2020	Biological	$3.63 billion	$3.49 billion	$0.07 billion

Concentration is the defining feature of FEMA spending by state. Of 2,764 non-COVID declarations that received any Public Assistance, the largest 7 account for half of the dollars. The median declaration received $3,942,523. A state total is therefore mostly a record of whether a catastrophic hurricane has hit it, and any ranking moves sharply when the next one does. Our billion-dollar disaster record tracks the same events from the loss side, and the restoration demand volatility index shows how uneven that makes year-to-year demand.

Spending by incident type

Incident type	Declarations	Public Assistance	Share of all PA	Household aid	Mitigation	Median per declaration
Hurricane	271	$136.12 billion	47.2%	$25.33 billion	$9.64 billion	$14,308,071
Biological	79	$97.87 billion	33.9%	$3.27 billion	$1.49 billion	$328,323,564
Severe Storm	896	$17.85 billion	6.2%	$4.68 billion	$2.61 billion	$9,856,923
Fire	1,147	$14.87 billion	5.2%	$0.60 billion	$1.29 billion	$820,739
Flood	250	$9.49 billion	3.3%	$4.28 billion	$1.37 billion	$13,664,497
Tropical Storm	20	$3.80 billion	1.3%	$0.78 billion	$0.29 billion	$33,296,758
Severe Ice Storm	53	$2.50 billion	0.9%	$0.24 billion	$0.35 billion	$24,760,344
Earthquake	17	$1.66 billion	0.6%	$0.18 billion	$0.11 billion	$29,924,447
Snowstorm	101	$1.36 billion	0.5%	$0.00 billion	$0.09 billion	$6,959,645
Tornado	43	$0.72 billion	0.2%	$0.16 billion	$0.08 billion	$7,849,811
Winter Storm	23	$0.56 billion	0.2%	$0.32 billion	$0.01 billion	$4,800,193
Coastal Storm	18	$0.53 billion	0.2%	$0.00 billion	$0.22 billion	$3,065,017

The Fire line needs two notes. It holds 1,082 fire management declarations, which fund firefighting costs, are usually small, and pull the median down to $820,739. And its largest single declaration is Fires and Explosions in New York, 2001, the declaration for the September 11 attacks, at $5.00 billion or 29.8% of all Fire dollars in the file. Wildfire spending is smaller than the Fire total suggests.

Recent years are still filling

Every amount in this file is a cumulative obligation to date. Public Assistance is obligated project by project as work is scoped, and mitigation grants follow years later, so a disaster declared last year has only a fraction of its eventual total on the books. The table counts what is recorded so far for non-COVID major disaster declarations.

Declaration year	Major disasters	With any PA	With any HMGP	Public Assistance	Mitigation	Median PA per disaster
2017	59	57	57	$65.54 billion	$2.41 billion	$12,565,373
2018	59	56	53	$7.05 billion	$0.69 billion	$17,902,187
2019	61	59	54	$2.32 billion	$0.28 billion	$13,831,705
2020	47	45	45	$8.29 billion	$0.65 billion	$26,502,726
2021	56	54	53	$6.87 billion	$0.54 billion	$24,483,680
2022	47	44	42	$6.48 billion	$0.51 billion	$13,072,941
2023	71	69	56	$3.36 billion	$0.34 billion	$13,788,214
2024	100	88	77	$10.64 billion	$0.68 billion	$13,296,612
2025	45	41	4	$1.60 billion	$0.01 billion	$16,642,851
2026	48	26	0	$0.39 billion	$0.00 billion	$1,670,168

Of 48 major disasters declared in 2026, 26 show any Public Assistance and 0 any mitigation money. For 2025 the figures are 41 and 4 of 45. Low recent totals mostly reflect this lag and are not evidence of fewer or smaller disasters. Our declaration lag report covers the earlier delay, between an event and its declaration.

Declaration years	Declarations	Total	Public Assistance	Household aid	Mitigation
1998 to 1999	108	$1.5 billion	$1.0 billion	$0.0 billion	$0.5 billion
2000 to 2009	1,142	$63.4 billion	$44.6 billion	$13.2 billion	$5.7 billion
2010 to 2019	1,057	$124.3 billion	$106.7 billion	$10.4 billion	$7.3 billion
2020 to 2026	607	$54.5 billion	$38.4 billion	$13.3 billion	$2.8 billion

These are nominal dollars. They are not deflated because the money for one disaster is obligated over many years, so no single year’s price index fits a declaration’s total. For inflation-adjusted loss figures see our inflation-adjusted flood damage report.

Method

Reproduce this

What this does not show

Questions this report answers

Which state gets the most FEMA money?

Excluding COVID-19, Puerto Rico has received the most since 1998, $42.5 billion. Among the 50 states, Louisiana is first at $35.5 billion, followed by New York.

Which state gets the most FEMA money per person?

Puerto Rico, at $13,270 of non-COVID aid per 2025 resident since 1998. The median across 52 jurisdictions with a population figure is $309.

How much did FEMA spend on COVID-19?

$97.9 billion in Public Assistance across 79 declarations, 33.9% of all Public Assistance in the file, plus $3.27 billion in household aid, 100.0% of it under the Other Needs component, which carried COVID-19 funeral assistance.

What does FEMA Public Assistance pay for?

Emergency work (debris removal and protective measures) and permanent rebuilding of public roads, bridges, buildings, utilities and parks. Outside COVID-19, 64.3% of categorised PA was permanent work.

Why do recent years show so little FEMA spending?

Because amounts are obligations to date. Of 48 major disasters declared in 2026, 26 show any Public Assistance so far and 0 any mitigation money.

Is a typical disaster worth billions?

No. The median non-COVID declaration with Public Assistance received $3,942,523. The mean of $68,950,006 is pulled up by the 7 declarations that hold half of all non-COVID Public Assistance.