Florida has led the nation in many things. Best economy, best beaches, fastest growing state. But it also ranks at the top of states where the most homes are threatened by flood and wind risks, according to a new study,
On Sept. 3 − a week before the 2025 peak of hurricane season − a Realtor.com report looked at how flood, hurricane wind and wildfire threats were affecting housing markets and insurance availability. The Sunshine State did not do well.
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area ranked near the top of the list for wind risk and high insurance rates.
“Climate risks are no longer a distant threat for U.S. housing — they are a present reality that put a large chunk of U.S. real estate value at risk,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com. “In many markets, the gap between perceived risk and actual risk is sizable, particularly for flooding.
“This has significant consequences for homeowners, buyers, and insurers, and it underscores the need for readily available data to help households make informed decisions.”
Just in 2024, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) estimated that Milton caused $34.3 billion in damage in the United Sates, almost exclusively in Florida. The earlier Hurricane Helene caused an estimated $78.07 billion in damages across the U.S., the NCEI said, and wiped out about 90-95% of the structures in Bradenton Beach, 80% of the buildings in Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee and about 70% of the town of Horseshoe Beach, with thousands more destroyed up the west coast and in the Big Bend area.
Many Florida homes at high risk of flooding, including metro Cape Coral-Fort Myers, study says
“Nearly 6 million homes, valued at $3.4 trillion, are likely to experience severe or extreme flooding over the next 30 years,” Realtor.com said, based on flood data.
“This figure is about 2 million higher than the number of homes located in FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), largely because FEMA’s maps do not fully reflect heavy rainfall or the effects of climate change,” the report said.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area could be facing the most losses in the country from floods by total value, with homes valued at $306.8 billion with severe or extreme flood risk, the report said.
The third highest metro area, after New York-Newark-New Jersey ($295.3 billion), was the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area with $117.7 billion worth of homes in danger.
When U.S. metro areas were ranked by the percentage of total homes at severe or extreme flood risk, three of the five most at risk were in Florida.
New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana was at the top of that list with 88.9% of its homes at risk. After that it was Cape Coral-Fort Myers (46.1%, representing 77.5 billion in value), Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina (34.7%), North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota (29.3%, representing $59.7 billion) and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (25.6%, representing $117.7 billion).
Entire Florida metro areas, including Cape Coral-Fort Myers, threatened by wind
Just over 18% of homes in the U.S. face severe or extreme risk of wind damage, Realtor.com said, and in 14 major metro areas that includes every single home. More than half of those metro areas are in Florida.
The area facing the most potential loss is Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, the study said, with a total homes value of $1,323.9 billion in danger. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was third, with $459.7 billion at risk, and fifth was the $372.2 billion worth of homes in Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford.
The metro areas where all the homes are at risk of severe or extreme wind risk are:
Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area insurance rates among highest in U.S.
Unsurprisingly, five of the top 10 most expensive markets for insurance are also in the Sunshine State.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm had the biggest bite by far, with an estimated insurance premium for a typical home coming in at $22,718, compared to an average of $3,485 for the top 100 metro areas.
According to Realtor.com based on data from Insurify, the markets with the highest insurance burdern are:
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Billions in home value at risk from flood, wind in this SW Florida metro area, study says
Reporting by Kim Luciani and C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
