What is the NFIP? The National Flood Insurance Program, explained

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is a federal insurance program, created by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and administered by FEMA, that sells flood insurance in communities that agree to regulate floodplain development. It is the source of most flood insurance policies in the United States. In the three states currently covered by this site’s data — Florida, Texas, and Louisiana — the OpenFEMA policy records used here count 2,524,763 in-force NFIP policies as of June 1, 2026, and 1,314,210 claims paid since 1978 totaling roughly $57.6 billion.

Why the program exists

Before 1968, flood coverage was largely unavailable from private insurers: flood losses are concentrated in known areas and arrive in catastrophic bursts, which made the peril difficult to pool commercially. Congress responded with a bargain codified in Title 42 of the U.S. Code: the federal government offers insurance in a community, and in exchange the community adopts and enforces floodplain management rules — building codes for new construction in mapped flood hazard areas, elevation requirements, and land-use standards.

That bargain still defines the program. Coverage is available only in participating communities, and a community that withdraws (or is suspended for not enforcing its rules) loses access to new NFIP policies.

Who actually runs it

Three layers are involved:

1. FEMA sets the rates, writes the policy form, maps flood hazards, and bears the insurance risk through the National Flood Insurance Fund.
2. Write Your Own (WYO) insurance companies — private insurers operating under an arrangement authorized in 1983 — issue and service most NFIP policies under their own names. The premium, the policy form, and the claim rules are federal regardless of which company’s logo is on the declarations page. The Write Your Own program guide covers how this works.
3. NFIP Direct services the remaining policies for agents who do not place business through a WYO company.

Because rates are federal, an NFIP quote is the same through any WYO insurer or agent. Shopping between WYO companies changes the servicer, not the price — a structural difference from the private flood market described in NFIP vs. private flood insurance.

What an NFIP policy looks like

Coverage is written on the Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP), a federal form set out in regulation (44 CFR Part 61). Three versions exist: the Dwelling Form for houses and individual condo units, the General Property Form for non-residential buildings, and the Residential Condominium Building Association Policy for condo associations.

Statutory maximums apply: $250,000 of building coverage for a one-to-four-family residence and $100,000 for its contents; $500,000 building and $500,000 contents for non-residential property. What does flood insurance cover? walks through what sits inside — and outside — those limits.

A standard 30-day waiting period separates purchase from effective coverage, with narrow statutory exceptions described in the waiting period guide.

How premiums are set

Since the rollout of Risk Rating 2.0 in 2021–2022, FEMA prices each building on structure-specific characteristics — distance to water, flood type, ground and first-floor elevation, and replacement cost — rather than on flood zone alone. Statutory caps limit how quickly an existing policyholder’s renewal premium can change: most individual policies cannot increase more than 18% per year (42 U.S.C. §4015). The mechanics are covered in Risk Rating 2.0 explained and the glide path guide.

Where the numbers on this site come from

FEMA publishes redacted, record-level copies of the program’s books: every policy transaction and every claim, with identifying details removed. This site computes its statistics directly from those two files — the OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Policies (v2) and Redacted Claims (v2) datasets. For Florida that means 1,548,838 in-force policies in the current build; for Texas, 575,587; for Louisiana, 400,338. State pages for Florida, Texas, and Louisiana break these down, and the methodology page documents every computation, including how “in force” is approximated from effective, termination, and cancellation dates.

Frequently asked questions

Is the NFIP the same thing as FEMA?

No. FEMA is the federal agency; the NFIP is one program FEMA administers. FEMA also runs disaster assistance, which is separate from flood insurance — disaster assistance requires a presidential disaster declaration and is typically a loan or a limited grant, while an NFIP claim is a contractual insurance payment that does not depend on a declaration.

Do I have to use the NFIP, or can I buy private flood insurance?

Private flood insurance exists and, since a 2019 federal lending rule, mortgage lenders are required to accept qualifying private policies in place of NFIP coverage. The two differ in limits, waiting periods, and contract terms — see NFIP vs. private coverage differences.

Who can buy an NFIP policy?

Owners and renters of insurable buildings in a participating community — in any flood zone, not only high-risk ones. Renters can insure contents alone; see does renters insurance cover flooding?

Is flood insurance ever mandatory?

Yes, in one specific situation: a mortgage from a federally regulated lender, secured by a building in a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area in a participating community. The mandatory purchase guide explains the rule and its boundaries.

What happens if Congress lets the program’s authorization expire?

New policies and renewals pause until reauthorization; existing policies stay in force and claims continue to be paid. The NFIP lapse FAQ covers the mechanics.

Sources

• National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, Title 42, U.S. Code (program authority, coverage limits at §4013)
• 44 CFR Part 61 (Standard Flood Insurance Policy forms)
• OpenFEMA data sets — FIMA NFIP Redacted Policies (v2) and Redacted Claims (v2)
• Flood Figures methodology — how the statistics above are computed