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US Counties With the Lowest Expected Yearly Tornado Loss

3,144 US counties ranked by expected yearly tornado loss, from lowest to highest. First are Anchorage Municipality, AK (0.000001), Sitka City and Borough, AK (0.000003) and Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK (0.000005). The middle one of the 3,144 has 9.22.

What this measures

The damage tornadoes are expected to do to buildings in an average year, in dollars for every $100,000 that the buildings are worth. FEMA works it out from the tornadoes recorded from 1986 to 2023 and the damage they did. Source: FEMA National Risk Index.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 lowest counties

RankCounty$ per $100,000 of buildings
1Anchorage Municipality, AK0.000001
2Sitka City and Borough, AK0.000003
3Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK0.000005
4Skagway Municipality, AK0.000005
5Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK0.000006
6Chugach Census Area, AK0.000006
7Wrangell City and Borough, AK0.000007
8Juneau City and Borough, AK0.000008
9Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK0.00001
10Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, AK0.000014
11Kodiak Island Borough, AK0.000014
12Petersburg Borough, AK0.000016
13Nome Census Area, AK0.000016
14Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK0.000018
15Haines Borough, AK0.000019
16Yakutat City and Borough, AK0.000022
17Northwest Arctic Borough, AK0.000027
18Dillingham Census Area, AK0.00003
19Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK0.000039
20Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK0.00004
21Copper River Census Area, AK0.00004
22Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK0.000042
23North Slope Borough, AK0.000044
24Denali Borough, AK0.000049
25Bristol Bay Borough, AK0.000052
26Aleutians West Census Area, AK0.000055
27Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK0.000405
28Kusilvak Census Area, AK0.00164
29White Pine County, NV0.00205
30Eureka County, NV0.00445
31Nye County, NV0.00447
32Lincoln County, NV0.0046
33Washington County, UT0.00514
34Kane County, UT0.00603
35Aleutians East Borough, AK0.00634
36Clark County, NV0.00808
37Mohave County, AZ0.00833
38Iron County, UT0.00869
39Esmeralda County, NV0.00932
40Beaver County, UT0.00959
41Elko County, NV0.0101
42Flathead County, MT0.0104
43Lake County, MT0.0122
44Bethel Census Area, AK0.0141
45McKinley County, NM0.0157
46Catron County, NM0.0158
47Mineral County, MT0.0164
48Modoc County, CA0.0165
49Santa Barbara County, CA0.0165
50Siskiyou County, CA0.0167
51Alpine County, CA0.0187
52Churchill County, NV0.0234
53Lyon County, NV0.0251
54Douglas County, NV0.0252
55Carson City, NV0.0255
56Kauai County, HI0.0291
57San Luis Obispo County, CA0.0305
58Apache County, AZ0.0322
59Jackson County, OR0.0344
60Greenlee County, AZ0.0353
61Graham County, AZ0.0377
62Boundary County, ID0.0404
63Cumberland County, ME0.041
64Coos County, OR0.0412
65Pershing County, NV0.0438
66Douglas County, OR0.044
67Klamath County, OR0.0449
68Clearwater County, ID0.0476
69Josephine County, OR0.0491
70Shoshone County, ID0.0493
71Clatsop County, OR0.0494
72Marion County, OR0.0499
73Mineral County, NV0.053
74Lake County, OR0.0541
75Curry County, OR0.0554
76Deschutes County, OR0.0578
77Inyo County, CA0.0581
78Navajo County, AZ0.0589
79Maui County, HI0.0602
80Powell County, MT0.0606
81Whatcom County, WA0.0617
82Hawaii County, HI0.0623
83Crook County, OR0.0648
84Wheeler County, OR0.0655
85Humboldt County, CA0.0689
86Jefferson County, OR0.0692
87Del Norte County, CA0.0716
88Grant County, OR0.0735
89San Juan County, WA0.0772
90Lassen County, CA0.0782
91Lander County, NV0.0789
92Grant County, NM0.0789
93Sierra County, NM0.0804
94Kern County, CA0.0806
95Hidalgo County, NM0.0809
96Skagit County, WA0.0815
97La Paz County, AZ0.0818
98Mono County, CA0.0821
99Harney County, OR0.0828
100Bonner County, ID0.086

Every state, lowest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

RankState$ per $100,000 of buildings
1Alaska0.000238
2Nevada0.0317
3Washington0.183
4Hawaii0.196
5Oregon0.219
6Arizona0.306
7Idaho0.372
8Maine0.411
9California0.502
10Utah0.504
11Montana0.9
12Vermont1.01
13New Mexico1.07
14New York1.26
15District of Columbia1.51
16West Virginia1.6
17New Hampshire1.94
18Rhode Island1.97
19Maryland1.98
20Massachusetts2.04
21New Jersey2.08
22Delaware2.15
23Connecticut2.24
24Virginia2.54
25Pennsylvania2.76
26Wyoming2.98
27Florida5.22
28South Carolina6.7
29North Carolina6.73
30Louisiana7.73
31Ohio8.37
32Georgia9.26
33Wisconsin9.49
34Michigan10
35Colorado10.2
36Texas10.5
37North Dakota11.5
38Illinois12.3
39Minnesota12.4
40Kentucky12.5
41Missouri12.7
42Tennessee12.7
43Indiana14
44Arkansas15.2
45South Dakota17.6
46Kansas17.9
47Alabama18.1
48Oklahoma18.4
49Mississippi19.2
50Iowa22.6
51Nebraska27.4

More on expected yearly tornado loss

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.