Maps

Billion-Dollar Disasters Explorer

  State-level choropleth of cumulative 1980‑2024 costs from NOAA’s U.S. Billion-Dollar Disaster inventory (via Climate

  Central’s 2025 download since this dataset was taken down). By default you see aggregate losses across all hazard types; the dropdown filters the map to a

  single hazard (drought, flooding, freeze, severe storm, tropical cyclone, wildfire, winter storm).

  How to Explore

  - Hover over a state to read total damages (millions of USD, inflation-adjusted) and the number of billion-dollar events in

    that category.

  - Use the hazard dropdown (top-right) to flip between hazard types or return to “All Hazards”.

  - Pan and zoom as needed; the legend automatically rescales per hazard to keep the map readable.

  Interpreting the Map

  - Deep red states shoulder the largest cumulative losses. In the all-hazards view, the Gulf and Atlantic coasts dominate

    because repeated hurricanes drive the highest damages; interior states light up under “Severe Storm” due to hail/wind

    outbreaks; “Drought” highlights Great Plains and Western states.

  - Event counts in the tooltip indicate how often that hazard crossed the billion-dollar threshold in each state since 1980.

  Data Source

  - NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Billion-Dollar Disaster database (1980–2024), packaged by

    Climate Central (“U.S. Billion-Dollar Disasters: 1980-2024” release, July 2025).

This dataset and this map will not be updated as the US no longer supported the calculation of this data.