Updated May 2026
Flood Risk in Louisiana
Louisiana sits in the middle of the U.S. flood-risk distribution with an average composite score of 24. 0 of 65 counties carry an F grade, and the state has logged 12K NFIP claims to date — meaningful volume, mostly concentrated in a few river-adjacent or low-lying regions rather than spread evenly.
Grade Distribution Across Louisiana
63% of counties land at grade B — the state's modal tier. The riskiest counties below typically share a coastline, a major river, or both, while the safest ones sit on higher ground or in arid regions.
How Louisiana Compares Nationally
The U.S. county-level average composite score is 12. Louisiana sits at 24, which is 12 points above the national average — meaningfully more flood-exposed than the typical U.S. state. 2011 federal flood-related disaster declarations across 65 counties is one of the highest counts in the dataset — about 30.9 per county. Most counties have lived through multiple federally declared floods.
For full national context — every state ranked by average score and total claims — see the all-states overview. The riskiest-counties ranking and highest-payouts ranking drill into where loss is concentrated. Real-time stream-gauge readings are at USGS Water Data.
Riskiest in Louisiana
| County | Grade | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson | B | 40 |
| St. John the Baptist | B | 39 |
| Terrebonne | B | 39 |
| Lafourche | B | 38 |
| St. Charles | B | 38 |
How Louisiana's Risk Is Calculated
Every county in Louisiana is scored on the same four factors that drive every county nationwide: NFIP claims density (40%), federally declared flood-disaster frequency (25%), average claim severity (20%), and year-over-year trend (15%). Source data comes from the public FEMA flood-mapping program and OpenFEMA endpoints. Detailed weighting math, plus the data's known limitations (county-level granularity, NFIP-participation bias, historical bias), is on the methodology page.
All 65 Counties in Louisiana
Sorted by flood risk score, highest to lowest.
| # | County | Grade | Score | Claims | Payouts | Disasters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson | B | 40 | 913 | $26,936,704 | 39 |
| 2 | St. John the Baptist | B | 39 | 647 | $66,917,398 | 38 |
| 3 | Terrebonne | B | 39 | 131 | $1,326,380 | 44 |
| 4 | Lafourche | B | 38 | 142 | $5,301,043 | 43 |
| 5 | St. Charles | B | 38 | 265 | $10,115,821 | 42 |
| 6 | Calcasieu | B | 36 | 665 | $27,506,631 | 33 |
| 7 | Plaquemines | B | 36 | 65 | $2,622,529 | 38 |
| 8 | St. Bernard | B | 35 | 45 | $327,922 | 39 |
| 9 | East Baton Rouge | B | 33 | 2.2K | $190,425,166 | 40 |
| 10 | Allen | B | 32 | 17 | $824,686 | 32 |
| 11 | Avoyelles | B | 32 | 23 | $510,414 | 31 |
| 12 | Assumption | B | 30 | 8 | $158,967 | 42 |
| 13 | La Salle | B | 29 | 10 | $475,131 | 28 |
| 14 | Ascension | B | 29 | 717 | $56,026,457 | 47 |
| 15 | Livingston | B | 29 | 1.4K | $122,359,630 | 40 |
| 16 | St. Martin | B | 27 | 88 | $4,057,250 | 45 |
| 17 | St. Mary | B | 27 | 57 | $1,215,563 | 41 |
| 18 | West Feliciana | B | 27 | 8 | $488,409 | 36 |
| 19 | Cameron | B | 26 | 120 | $8,981,238 | 33 |
| 20 | West Baton Rouge | B | 26 | 26 | $1,500,859 | 30 |
| 21 | Rapides | B | 25 | 137 | $5,536,484 | 36 |
| 22 | East Feliciana | B | 25 | 13 | $942,058 | 33 |
| 23 | Iberville | B | 25 | 33 | $1,895,447 | 39 |
| 24 | St. Tammany | B | 25 | 714 | $24,905,184 | 40 |
| 25 | Tangipahoa | B | 25 | 458 | $23,849,399 | 39 |
| 26 | Beauregard | B | 24 | 25 | $938,822 | 31 |
| 27 | Concordia | B | 24 | 9 | $153,088 | 29 |
| 28 | Jefferson Davis | B | 24 | 22 | $671,630 | 31 |
| 29 | Iberia | B | 24 | 101 | $4,518,828 | 38 |
| 30 | St. Helena | B | 24 | 2 | $116,090 | 31 |
| 31 | St. James | B | 24 | 16 | $483,009 | 36 |
| 32 | Natchitoches | B | 23 | 27 | $1,232,278 | 29 |
| 33 | Vernon | B | 23 | 24 | $960,826 | 26 |
| 34 | Bossier | B | 22 | 53 | $1,809,196 | 23 |
| 35 | Caldwell | B | 22 | 9 | $315,787 | 27 |
| 36 | Lafayette | B | 22 | 562 | $35,619,716 | 35 |
| 37 | Vermilion | B | 22 | 189 | $8,718,756 | 38 |
| 38 | Franklin | B | 21 | 10 | $239,374 | 28 |
| 39 | Grant | B | 21 | 14 | $512,381 | 25 |
| 40 | Pointe Coupee | B | 21 | 44 | $1,589,947 | 38 |
| 41 | Washington | B | 21 | 42 | $1,867,830 | 35 |
| 42 | Catahoula | A | 20 | 40 | $1,167,138 | 32 |
| 43 | East Carroll | A | 20 | 3 | $298,469 | 23 |
| 44 | Sabine | A | 20 | 5 | $239,543 | 23 |
| 45 | St. Landry | A | 20 | 62 | $1,887,778 | 35 |
| 46 | Orleans | A | 20 | 774 | $19,207,876 | 30 |
| 47 | Bienville | A | 19 | 1 | $56,500 | 22 |
| 48 | Claiborne | A | 19 | 7 | $120,727 | 21 |
| 49 | De Soto | A | 19 | 0 | $0 | 21 |
| 50 | Lincoln | A | 19 | 4 | $83,304 | 21 |
| 51 | Red River | A | 19 | 0 | $0 | 22 |
| 52 | Tensas | A | 19 | 0 | $0 | 21 |
| 53 | Union | A | 19 | 28 | $1,159,003 | 22 |
| 54 | Webster | A | 19 | 13 | $689,582 | 21 |
| 55 | West Carroll | A | 19 | 5 | $238,958 | 21 |
| 56 | Winn | A | 19 | 4 | $129,692 | 21 |
| 57 | Acadia | A | 18 | 116 | $5,418,050 | 32 |
| 58 | Evangeline | A | 18 | 26 | $877,774 | 26 |
| 59 | Jackson | A | 18 | 0 | $0 | 20 |
| 60 | Madison | A | 18 | 9 | $92,761 | 23 |
| 61 | Ouachita | A | 18 | 319 | $14,993,935 | 30 |
| 62 | Richland | A | 16 | 30 | $1,111,572 | 25 |
| 63 | Caddo | A | 15 | 63 | $1,676,017 | 23 |
| 64 | Morehouse | A | 14 | 32 | $1,090,053 | 23 |
| 65 | Statewide | A | 10 | 0 | $0 | 5 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average flood risk score in Louisiana?
Louisiana's average composite flood risk score is 24 on a 0–100 scale, computed as the mean of all 65 county scores. That is 12 points above the U.S. county-level average of 12. Score components: 40% claims density, 25% disaster frequency, 20% claim severity, 15% trend.
Which counties in Louisiana have the highest flood risk?
The riskiest county in Louisiana is Jefferson with a composite score of 40 (grade B). The next four — St. John the Baptist, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Charles — round out the top-five most exposed places in the state.
How many NFIP flood-insurance claims has Louisiana filed?
FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program shows 12K claims on file from Louisiana, with combined payouts of $695,493,060 across the dataset. 60 of the state's 65 counties have at least one NFIP claim recorded.
Are FEMA flood maps the same as your risk score?
No. The flood risk score on this page is a county-wide composite drawn from claims, disasters, severity, and trend. FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs, available at fema.gov/flood-maps) are parcel-level zone designations based on hydrologic modeling. The two answer different questions; serious decisions about insurance or building should use both, plus real-time hydrology from USGS Water Data.
When was the Louisiana data last updated?
These figures were refreshed from the OpenFEMA API on 2026-05-16. FEMA itself publishes new NFIP claims on a quarterly cycle, so the data may lag actual events by up to three months.
Flood risk profile for Louisiana: 65 counties, 12K NFIP claims, average composite score 24.
this entity is one of the data points covered by this site’s U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations dataset. The detail above comes directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the context that follows situates the headline numbers against the broader distribution across U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states.
Every number on this page links back to FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims; the methodology page describes the inputs, refresh cadence, and known limitations of the underlying data product.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.