States With The Most Dangerous Weather

By Douglas McIntyre  •  November 4, 2026
lightning struck on desert
Photo by Lucy Chian on Unsplash

There are many ways to measure dangerous weather. Deaths almost always come first, and injuries and property damage are nearly always included. Another factor is how long the damage lasts, since some events scar parts of a state for years.

Hurricane Helene shows how these measures work together. The storm struck western North Carolina on September 27, 2024, after making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane and moving inland. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, it killed 107 people in the state.

Hawaii tops this list almost entirely because of one event. The U.S. Fire Administration wrote, “On Aug. 8, 2023, wind-driven wildfires on the island of Maui destroyed more than 2,200 structures and caused about $5.5 billion in damages. The most significantly impacted area was the historic district of Lahaina, where more than 100 lives were lost.” It was the fifth-deadliest wildfire in American history and the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history. The odds that Lahaina’s homes and businesses will ever be fully rebuilt are close to zero.

Another example predates our measurement period. Had it happened recently, Louisiana would have topped the list. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast near New Orleans on August 29, 2005, with winds of about 130 mph, and the storm itself was roughly 400 miles wide. More than 1,100 people died, most of them in and around New Orleans, and damages totaled about $150 billion in 2005 dollars. According to Brookings, “More than a year after the storm, close to 380,000 residents—29.2% of metropolitan New Orleans’s residents—had not returned, and the share of Black residents had declined to 21% from 36%.”

Methodology

To identify the states with the most dangerous weather, we reviewed the National Weather Service’s “Summary of Hazardous Weather Fatalities, Injuries, and Damage Costs by State” for 2023, 2024, and 2025, the three most recent years available. The 2025 tables were published in July 2026. For each state, we totaled weather deaths, injuries, and property and crop damage over the three years. We then divided each total by the state’s July 1, 2025, population from the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates. Without this adjustment, large states like California and Texas would dominate the results.

Each state received a score from 0 to 100. Deaths per 100,000 residents counted for 50% of the score, injuries per 100,000 residents for 25%, and damage per resident for the remaining 25%. We drew on National Weather Service data for heat, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. We also used a formula to keep any single event from skewing a state’s score, but that approach was not practical for Hawaii because of the Maui wildfire. The National Weather Service does not publish death totals, so we took those from the CDC.

snow covered mountain during daytime
Photo by Kathrine Coonjohn on Unsplash

15. Alaska

  • Dangerous weather score: 53.2 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 9 (6, 2, 1); 1.22 per 100,000 people, 5th highest
  • Weather injuries: 7; 0.9 per 100,000 people, 23rd highest
  • Weather damage: $41.7 million; $57 per resident, 24th highest
  • Population: 737,270

14. North Carolina

  • Dangerous weather score: 53.9 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 114 (5, 96, 13); 1.02 per 100,000 people, 9th highest
  • Weather injuries: 75; 0.7 per 100,000 people, 28th highest
  • Weather damage: $2.49 billion; $223 per resident, 9th highest
  • Population: 11,197,968

13. Kentucky

  • Dangerous weather score: 54.8 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 51 (7, 5, 39); 1.11 per 100,000 people, 6th highest
  • Weather injuries: 93; 2.0 per 100,000 people, 13th highest
  • Weather damage: $142.8 million; $31 per resident, 32nd highest
  • Population: 4,606,864

12. North Dakota

  • Dangerous weather score: 56.0 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 6 (1, 2, 3); 0.75 per 100,000 people, 16th highest
  • Weather injuries: 15; 1.9 per 100,000 people, 15th highest
  • Weather damage: $125.0 million; $156 per resident, 13th highest
  • Population: 799,358

11. South Dakota

  • Dangerous weather score: 56.4 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 7 (1, 3, 3); 0.75 per 100,000 people, 17th highest
  • Weather injuries: 14; 1.5 per 100,000 people, 20th highest
  • Weather damage: $255.8 million; $274 per resident, 7th highest
  • Population: 935,094

10. Wyoming

  • Dangerous weather score: 57.0 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 6 (2, 2, 2); 1.02 per 100,000 people, 8th highest
  • Weather injuries: 14; 2.4 per 100,000 people, 10th highest
  • Weather damage: $34.6 million; $59 per resident, 23rd highest
  • Population: 588,753

9. Tennessee

  • Dangerous weather score: 58.3 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 70 (27, 26, 17); 0.96 per 100,000 people, 11th highest
  • Weather injuries: 216; 3.0 per 100,000 people, 8th highest
  • Weather damage: $540.9 million; $74 per resident, 20th highest
  • Population: 7,315,076

8. Arkansas

  • Dangerous weather score: 58.4 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 19 (7, 8, 4); 0.61 per 100,000 people, 22nd highest
  • Weather injuries: 139; 4.5 per 100,000 people, 6th highest
  • Weather damage: $395.6 million; $127 per resident, 14th highest
  • Population: 3,114,791

7. Nebraska

  • Dangerous weather score: 58.7 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 7 (2, 1, 4); 0.35 per 100,000 people, 30th highest
  • Weather injuries: 130; 6.4 per 100,000 people, 4th highest
  • Weather damage: $677.8 million; $336 per resident, 3rd highest
  • Population: 2,018,006

6. Texas

  • Dangerous weather score: 63.1 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 269 (75, 41, 153); 0.85 per 100,000 people, 12th highest
  • Weather injuries: 2,051; 6.5 per 100,000 people, 3rd highest
  • Weather damage: $3.69 billion; $116 per resident, 15th highest
  • Population: 31,709,821

5. Oklahoma

  • Dangerous weather score: 64.6 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 30 (5, 12, 13); 0.73 per 100,000 people, 19th highest
  • Weather injuries: 357; 8.7 per 100,000 people, 2nd highest
  • Weather damage: $707.1 million; $171 per resident, 11th highest
  • Population: 4,123,288

4. Missouri

  • Dangerous weather score: 65.2 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 48 (13, 14, 21); 0.77 per 100,000 people, 14th highest
  • Weather injuries: 390; 6.2 per 100,000 people, 5th highest
  • Weather damage: $2.07 billion; $330 per resident, 4th highest
  • Population: 6,270,541

3. Arizona

  • Dangerous weather score: 68.7 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 958 (459, 436, 63); 12.57 per 100,000 people, the highest
  • Weather injuries: 58; 0.8 per 100,000 people, 27th highest
  • Weather damage: $141.9 million; $19 per resident, 39th highest
  • Population: 7,623,818

2. Mississippi

  • Dangerous weather score: 72.7 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 47 (29, 5, 13); 1.59 per 100,000 people, 4th highest
  • Weather injuries: 329; 11.1 per 100,000 people, the highest
  • Weather damage: $508.5 million; $172 per resident, 10th highest
  • Population: 2,954,160

1. Hawaii

  • Dangerous weather score: 89.3 out of 100
  • Weather deaths, 2023–2025: 107 (102, 3, 2); 7.47 per 100,000 people, 2nd highest
  • Weather injuries: 53; 3.7 per 100,000 people, 7th highest
  • Weather damage: $5.58 billion; $3,895 per resident, the highest
  • Population: 1,432,820

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