FEMA Disaster Dollars by State: Public and Individual Assistance (2016–2026)

Original research · OpenFEMA Public Assistance + Individual Assistance (IHP) dollars · Declaration window 2016-01-01 through 2026-09-15 · Pull date September 16, 2026 · Distinct from declaration counts

Beyond declaration counts, OpenFEMA shows about $71.6B in hazard (ex-Biological) Public Assistance obligations and approved Individual Assistance IHP amounts across the 50 states and D.C. in this window — led by Florida ($16.1B). Raw all-program PA is much larger ($152.1B) because Biological/COVID-era obligations are about 64% of PA dollars. This is recovery/risk context for local service firms — not a best-state ranking, and not a claim that disaster dollars equal cleaning or HVAC contractor revenue. Obligated/approved federal program dollars are not invoices paid to small businesses.

Key findings

  1. Dollars are not declaration counts. Our sibling disaster declarations by state page ranks high-count states. On hazard dollars, the largest combined totals are Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California, and North Carolina.
  2. Use the ex-Biological view for storm/fire/flood context. Biological incident-type PA is $97.4B of $152.1B all-program PA (~64%). Hazard PA is $54.6B; hazard IA (approved IHP) is $17.0B.
  3. Hazard PA is concentrated in a few incident types. Hurricane ~49% of hazard PA; flood ~9%; wildfire + fire ~11% (OpenFEMA labels).
  4. Per-capita highlights smaller recovery geographies. Louisiana leads hazard combined dollars per ACS 2023 resident at $2,375 — a context metric that amplifies small populations, not a “best state” score.
  5. PA and IA track each other on the hazard view (Pearson r ≈ 0.87), but they fund different recipients: public applicants vs households. Neither series measures local contractor billings.

All-program totals vs hazard (ex-Biological)

United States (50 states + D.C.) — declaration window 2016-01-01 through 2026-09-15
View PA federal obligated IA approved IHP Combined Combined per capita
All incident types $152,059,921,272 $20,253,059,442 $172,312,980,714 $514
Ex-Biological (hazard) $54,642,488,139 $16,998,375,184 $71,640,863,322 $214
Biological only $97,417,433,133 $3,254,684,259 $100,672,117,392 —

How to read this: Public Assistance federalObligatedAmount is federal grant funding available to the state grantee for approved project worksheets — typically for public infrastructure and eligible applicants, not payments to private cleaning or HVAC shops. Individual Assistance figures sum totalApprovedIhpAmount for housing owners and renters (IHP). “Combined” is a convenience total across dissimilar programs.

Top 10 states by hazard combined dollars (ex-Biological)
State PA ex-Bio IA ex-Bio Combined Per capita Top PA hazard type
Florida $11.8B $4.3B $16.1B $712 Hurricane
Louisiana $8.3B $2.6B $10.9B $2,375 Hurricane
Texas $4.6B $3.5B $8.1B $266 Hurricane
California $5.9B $0.5B $6.4B $165 Wildfire
North Carolina $3.9B $0.8B $4.7B $436 Tropical Storm
Georgia $2.2B $0.5B $2.7B $245 Hurricane
New York $2.1B $0.2B $2.3B $119 Tropical Storm
Kentucky $1.3B $0.3B $1.6B $354 Severe Storm(s)
Tennessee $1.3B $0.2B $1.5B $212 Tropical Storm
South Carolina $1.0B $0.4B $1.5B $271 Hurricane

Charts

Horizontal stacked bar chart of the ten states with the largest hazard Public Assistance plus Individual Assistance dollars excluding Biological incidents
Figure 1. Top 10 states by hazard (ex-Biological) PA + IA dollars. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas lead; California’s hazard mix is wildfire-heavy.
Two bar charts comparing Biological versus all other incident types for Public Assistance obligated dollars and Individual Assistance approved IHP dollars
Figure 2. Why the page leads with an ex-Biological view: COVID-era Biological PA dominates the raw 2016–2026 PA total.
Horizontal bar chart of Public Assistance federal obligated dollars by incident type after excluding Biological
Figure 3. Hazard PA by OpenFEMA incident type — hurricane, severe storms, tropical storms, wildfire, and flood lead.
Horizontal bar chart of the ten states with the highest hazard disaster dollars per capita using ACS 2023 population
Figure 4. Hazard dollars per ACS 2023 resident — context for intensity, not a ranking score.
Scatter plot of state Public Assistance obligated dollars versus Individual Assistance approved IHP dollars excluding Biological incidents
Figure 5. PA vs IA (ex-Biological). States with large public obligations often also show large household IHP approvals — still not contractor revenue.

Hazard Public Assistance by incident type

PA federal obligated (ex-Biological), national 51-jurisdiction sum
Incident type Federal obligated Share of hazard PA
Hurricane $26,641,978,429 48.8%
Severe Storm(s) $7,027,429,686 12.9%
Tropical Storm $6,284,890,017 11.5%
Wildfire $5,611,687,620 10.3%
Flood $4,879,116,786 8.9%
Winter Storm $1,381,882,707 2.5%
Other $988,700,069 1.8%
Tornado $572,315,483 1.0%
Fire $491,153,167 0.9%
Snow $301,253,248 0.6%

Incident types that matter most to restoration, tree, roofing, and debris-adjacent trades — hurricane, flood, severe storm, wildfire/fire, winter/ice — dominate the hazard PA mix. That still does not prove local firms captured those dollars.

State table

Default sort is hazard combined dollars (ex-Biological). Columns also show all-program PA and combined totals so readers can see the Biological overlay. State names link to state hubs — this is cross-industry recovery context.


OpenFEMA PA federal obligated and IA approved IHP by state (declarations 2016-01-01 through 2026-09-15)
State PA ex-Bio IA ex-Bio Hazard combined Hazard $/capita Top PA hazard type All-program PA All-program combined
Florida $11,752,721,878 $4,343,199,008 $16,095,920,886 $712 Hurricane $16,656,824,519 $21,181,524,303
Louisiana $8,293,767,886 $2,569,930,584 $10,863,698,470 $2,375 Hurricane $10,590,148,759 $13,217,163,865
Texas $4,604,507,025 $3,497,242,590 $8,101,749,616 $266 Hurricane $18,980,336,710 $22,757,003,964
California $5,943,319,231 $478,866,817 $6,422,186,048 $165 Wildfire $20,610,572,942 $21,338,890,807
North Carolina $3,919,148,459 $806,264,449 $4,725,412,907 $436 Tropical Storm $5,988,074,609 $6,903,315,521
Georgia $2,249,279,033 $453,619,766 $2,702,898,799 $245 Hurricane $3,449,467,340 $4,034,843,235
New York $2,106,526,154 $225,764,206 $2,332,290,360 $119 Tropical Storm $19,446,057,921 $19,929,422,384
Kentucky $1,342,882,783 $261,346,393 $1,604,229,175 $354 Severe Storm(s) $1,632,790,045 $1,968,265,442
Tennessee $1,322,644,424 $185,953,617 $1,508,598,040 $212 Tropical Storm $1,882,984,599 $2,171,573,736
South Carolina $1,047,285,638 $407,448,577 $1,454,734,215 $271 Hurricane $1,877,707,803 $2,360,630,584
Hawaii $935,409,340 $126,912,605 $1,062,321,945 $740 Wildfire $1,247,874,755 $1,378,335,665
Mississippi $658,887,326 $398,504,622 $1,057,391,948 $360 Winter Storm $980,607,953 $1,432,801,717
Michigan $162,206,595 $715,989,389 $878,195,984 $87 Winter Storm $1,857,901,928 $2,692,469,258
New Mexico $822,271,717 $48,803,271 $871,074,988 $412 Wildfire $1,413,289,361 $1,478,877,403
Oregon $803,691,252 $41,269,461 $844,960,713 $200 Wildfire $2,784,070,763 $2,835,884,445
Nebraska $769,109,615 $28,281,632 $797,391,247 $403 Severe Storm(s) $1,075,568,285 $1,120,590,323
New Jersey $541,898,534 $255,438,528 $797,337,063 $86 Tropical Storm $3,779,273,477 $4,149,910,040
West Virginia $612,770,983 $132,784,895 $745,555,878 $421 Flood $819,488,164 $981,671,465
Iowa $639,108,782 $101,237,436 $740,346,219 $231 Severe Storm(s) $1,181,989,961 $1,315,482,076
Illinois $91,427,038 $629,831,449 $721,258,487 $57 Severe Storm(s) $2,265,995,676 $3,030,321,399
Oklahoma $660,614,035 $50,097,588 $710,711,623 $175 Severe Storm(s) $975,615,329 $1,074,198,983
Alabama $550,864,752 $143,167,554 $694,032,306 $136 Hurricane $657,448,620 $875,008,642
Missouri $531,133,541 $156,077,376 $687,210,917 $111 Severe Storm(s) $1,738,493,834 $1,964,227,294
Virginia $467,141,718 $29,350,497 $496,492,215 $57 Winter Storm $1,653,426,744 $1,758,023,582
Vermont $440,926,794 $42,689,111 $483,615,905 $747 Severe Storm(s) $900,113,290 $944,355,208
Alaska $378,390,095 $104,871,109 $483,261,204 $659 Earthquake $849,240,196 $955,943,560
Pennsylvania $301,011,396 $136,614,960 $437,626,357 $34 Hurricane $2,650,144,035 $2,961,326,574
Wisconsin $102,532,585 $296,048,140 $398,580,725 $67 Flood $972,458,158 $1,326,125,681
Arkansas $327,108,429 $62,036,536 $389,144,965 $127 Severe Storm(s) $574,385,792 $670,155,706
Washington $342,020,922 $28,330,960 $370,351,882 $47 Severe Storm(s) $3,325,297,853 $3,373,693,509
Kansas $254,984,372 $0 $254,984,372 $87 Severe Storm(s) $779,453,404 $809,362,388
Minnesota $206,152,702 $19,772,629 $225,925,331 $39 Flood $758,191,070 $815,321,660
South Dakota $170,371,887 $20,965,812 $191,337,699 $208 Other $208,511,018 $239,492,703
Maine $145,148,067 $12,109,615 $157,257,682 $113 Severe Storm(s) $731,818,075 $750,212,853
North Dakota $146,382,756 $0 $146,382,756 $187 Severe Storm(s) $361,897,329 $372,814,565
Ohio $137,407,468 $8,826,376 $146,233,844 $12 Flood $1,177,476,273 $1,337,570,251
Indiana $33,584,167 $89,364,731 $122,948,898 $18 Tornado $313,356,949 $480,124,655
Connecticut $96,594,906 $24,560,497 $121,155,403 $33 Tropical Storm $1,160,057,106 $1,220,293,467
Maryland $117,366,025 $0 $117,366,025 $19 Snow $3,383,770,270 $3,438,882,849
Colorado $105,633,014 $2,134,407 $107,767,420 $18 Wildfire $1,959,623,540 $1,985,628,988
Montana $79,727,335 $27,436,335 $107,163,670 $95 Severe Storm(s) $164,229,692 $198,814,200
Massachusetts $97,508,349 $7,670,256 $105,178,605 $15 Winter Storm $3,588,407,703 $3,666,568,862
New Hampshire $100,200,966 $0 $100,200,966 $71 Severe Storm(s) $424,766,835 $431,230,910
Idaho $65,044,655 $0 $65,044,655 $33 Severe Storm(s) $290,645,559 $301,262,488
Utah $54,145,769 $1,089,135 $55,234,904 $16 Earthquake $499,884,462 $517,005,542
Rhode Island $13,661,449 $22,746,162 $36,407,611 $33 Winter Storm $868,909,719 $903,622,414
Nevada $31,329,952 $0 $31,329,952 $10 Severe Storm(s) $147,050,692 $170,659,384
District of Columbia $23,211,845 $0 $23,211,845 $34 Snow $1,097,553,297 $1,104,157,449
Arizona $14,705,672 $3,726,105 $18,431,777 $2 Flood $944,663,278 $992,019,686
Wyoming $16,925,843 $0 $16,925,843 $29 Wildfire $96,693,535 $100,766,107
Delaware $11,792,975 $0 $11,792,975 $11 Hurricane $285,312,049 $295,132,923

Methods and limitations

Data sources and window

Public Assistance: OpenFEMA Public Assistance Funded Project Summaries v1. Sum of federalObligatedAmount where declarationDate is on/after 2016-01-01 and before 2026-09-16. Geography limited to 50 states + D.C. (territories excluded from the table).

Individual Assistance: OpenFEMA Housing Assistance owners + renters v2. Sum of totalApprovedIhpAmount for rows whose disasterNumber has an earliest declaration date in the same window (via Disaster Declarations Summaries v2). IHP housing assistance only.

Ex-Biological view: drop rows / disasters with incidentType == Biological. Primary charts use this view because Biological PA is ~64% of all-program PA in the window.

Population: Census ACS 1-year 2023 total population (B01001_001E) for per-capita columns.

Reproducibility: Florida PA CSV sum matched the live OpenFEMA API filter sum exactly ($0.00 delta; 4,114 rows) on 2026-09-16.

Limitations
  • Obligated ≠ paid to small businesses. PA dollars are federal obligations for eligible public (and certain nonprofit) applicants.
  • Approved IHP ≠ contractor revenue; IA assists households. Approval and disbursement timing can differ.
  • Combined PA+IA spans dissimilar programs and recipients.
  • Declaration counts are a different object — see the sibling declarations page.
  • Per-capita uses 2023 ACS population, not a mid-window average.
  • OpenFEMA fields can differ from audited financial statements; datasets refresh — this page is a fixed pull.
  • No causal claim that higher disaster dollars create more local cleaning, HVAC, or landscaping work.

Download

Download CSV — disaster dollars by state (2016–2026-09-15). Columns include all-program and ex-Biological PA/IA, per-capita figures, top hazard incident type, and ranks.

Primary sources: OpenFEMA PA Funded Project Summaries, Housing Assistance Owners, Housing Assistance Renters, Disaster Declarations Summaries.


About Contact Privacy Policy