A Concentrated, Not Evenly Spread, Exposure
6,437,350 US homes face extreme hurricane wind risk, representing $1,680.0 billion in potential reconstruction value, according to the Insurance Information Institute’s 2024 data. That exposure is not spread evenly across the country. It concentrates in Gulf and Atlantic coastal states, a materially different geography than the Plains and Midwest hail corridor that drives most of the country’s other major roofing-claim activity, which is why a coastal roofing company’s storm calendar and a Hail Alley company’s storm calendar rarely line up.
Wind is also not a minor share of what actually gets claimed. Wind claims made up 19% of all roofing catastrophe-designated insurance claims in 2025, according to Verisk data, meaning a named storm’s wind field, not just a hurricane’s flooding, is doing real, claimable damage to roofs well outside the immediate coastline.
What the Costliest Named Storms Cost
Hurricane Katrina remains the costliest storm on record: $65 billion in insured losses at the time it struck in 2005, equal to $101.9 billion in 2023 dollars, and the deadliest US hurricane in the dataset at 1,408 deaths. It also generated the highest National Flood Insurance Program payout on record, 168,200 paid losses totaling $26,247 million in 2024 dollars. More recent storms show the pattern continuing at scale: Hurricane Ian caused $54 billion in insured losses in 2022 ($57.2 billion in 2024 dollars), Hurricane Ida caused $36 billion in 2021 ($41.5 billion in 2024 dollars), and Hurricane Sandy caused $30 billion in 2012 ($40.9 billion in 2024 dollars). Hurricane Helene, in 2024, generated 43,700 NFIP paid losses totaling $1.779 billion, smaller than Katrina in scale but a reminder the pattern has not stopped.
The Numbers
6,437,350 US homes face extreme hurricane wind risk, representing $1,680.0 billion in potential reconstruction value, concentrated in Gulf and Atlantic coastal states (2024 data).
Hurricane Katrina (2005) caused $65 billion in insured losses at the time, equal to $101.9 billion in 2023 dollars, and remains the deadliest US hurricane on record at 1,408 deaths.
Katrina generated the highest NFIP payout on record: 168,200 paid losses totaling $26,247 million in 2024 dollars. Hurricane Helene (2024) generated 43,700 paid losses totaling $1.779 billion.
Hurricane Ian (2022): $54 billion insured losses, $57.2 billion in 2024 dollars. Hurricane Ida (2021): $36 billion, $41.5 billion in 2024 dollars. Hurricane Sandy (2012): $30 billion, $40.9 billion in 2024 dollars.
Wind claims made up 19% of all roofing catastrophe-designated insurance claims in 2025, versus 33% for hail.
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- Insurance Information Institute, Facts and Statistics: Hurricanes
- Insurance Business Magazine, Verisk 2025 roof report