Flood Insurance in Texas: What It Costs by County, Flood Zone and Buyer Type

The median flood insurance policy in Texas costs $1,083 per year, which is about $35 more expensive than the national median. That means about half of Texans pay less than that for flood insurance and half of that pay more. The average cost of flood insurance in the state is $1,133 per year, higher than the median because very risky homes pull up the total cost.

Many Texans will end up paying somewhere near the median and average as MoneyGeek found that 88% of current policyholders pay less than $1,500 per year and that almost 71% of policies are in lower risk flood zones. Buyers should note that the total cost of a flood insurance policy is composed of both a premium and other associated fees.

The typical cost of NFIP flood insurance is composed of four parts: the premium, reserve fund assessment, a federal policy fee and a HFIAA federal surcharge.

For example, the median Texas NFIP flood insurance policy costs $1,083 per year composed of:

• Premium: The bulk of the cost of any insurance policy at $857 per year, the premium is what policyholders pay to guarantee their rights to a claim on flood insurance damage is covered.
• Reserve Fund Assessment: The second biggest component at $154 per year. It goes toward covering NFIP losses and additional costs like reinsurance.
• A federal policy fee: A minor cost at $47 per year, the federal policy fee helps cover NFIP administration costs.
• HFIAA surcharge: Only about $25 of the total $1,083 bill, this surcharge helps subsidize premiums of other policyholders.

If you see a difference between what is quoted as your flood insurance premium and the cost of your policy, the reason could be these associated fees and assessments which compose the total cost of your flood insurance policy.

The median flood insurance policy in Texas is just over $1,000 per year, but very few policyholders have extremely expensive policies: 88% of policies in the state cost under $1,500 per year and only 3% cost $2,500 per year or more. In fact, there are many Texas policyholders with relatively affordable policies as around 25% pay less than $794 per year.

The main reason for the variance in flood insurance prices is flood zones. 92% of the policies that cost $2,500 or more are in A or V zones, which are high-risk and/or coastal flood areas. Of policies in these zones, 10% cost $2,500 or more per year.

Across the country's 50 states, Texas is the 19th most expensive measured by median cost and the 18th cheapest measured by average cost, meaning it mostly falls in the middle of the pack. With its exposure to the Gulf Coast one might expect it to be a costly state, but only 3.2% of Texas policies cost $2,500 more.

Most Texas policies are concentrated in the southeast, with six counties (Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Montgomery and Jefferson) accounting for 76% of the policies, in which the median costs range between $958 to $1,148 per year. Despite this concentration in the Gulf Coast area, most Texas policies (71%) are in lower risk flood zones and the state has a smaller share of high-premium flood policies than the rest of the country.

Flood zones are the major drivers of household's flood insurance costs, but the part of Texas someone lives in is also a decent guide to what their flood insurance costs will be. Costs in Texas by county range from medians as low as $627 per year in El Paso to $1,493 per year in Kleberg. And a household's specific city or ZIP code can give them an even more accurate estimate of what to expect when they get a flood insurance quote.

Which county you live in can significantly affect your flood insurance costs. The median annual cost of the five most expensive counties (Kleberg, Guadalupe, Aransas, Orange, Matagorda) ranges from $1,113 to $1,746 per year; the median cost of the five cheapest (El Paso, Cameron, Hidalgo, Waller, Taylor) ranges from $427 to $536 per year.

To get a sense of the real costs of flood insurance in Texas, it's also important to look at where most of the policies are. Many of the most expensive and least expensive counties only have a couple of thousand policies in force. Harris County alone has over 180,000 flood insurance policies in force — 43% of all of Texas' policies — and its median cost is $1,087 per year, lower than the most expensive policies despite the population's clear need for flood coverage.

Of the eight most populous cities in Texas, Houston, located in Harris County, has by far the most flood insurance policies with almost 80,000 in force. Reflecting Houston's higher flood risk within Harris County, its median annual cost is $1,154 per year, slightly more expensive than the county as a whole.

The 7 remaining most populous cities in Texas all have much lower flood insurance costs and policies in force than Houston. The median annual cost of these cities ranges from $622 per year (El Paso) to $965 per year (Austin), notably lower than the state's median and reflecting the fact that only one of these large cities (Corpus Christi) is coastal. And there are only around 21,000 policies in force in all these cities combined, with Corpus Christi alone contributing almost 10,000 of those policies.

Flood insurance rates largely depend upon what type of flood zone a home is located in, but rates can also vary due to specific features of the home or the amount of coverage elected by the household. Typically, the flood insurance zone is the main driver of insurance costs, but in Texas the difference in cost between lower-risk areas and higher-risk areas is comparatively minimal: less than $200 per year. Homeowners in high risk coastal zones, however, pay much more.

Flood insurance zones in Texas and the rest of the country typically have three main categorizations: lower-risk (zones beginning with the letter X, B or C), high-risk (zones beginning with the letter A) and coastal high-risk (zones beginning with the letter V).

A lower-risk flood zone usually designates the chances of flood damage occurring in any given year as one in 500 or 0.2%. Homeowners in these zones are not required by law to purchase a food insurance policy, but in Texas most flood policyholders live in these zones. Approximately 71% of flood insurance policies are in these lower-risk areas; low-risk is not the same as no-risk and homeowners are choosing to protect themselves with a median policy cost of $1,069 per year.

About 29% of flood insurance policies in Texas are in "A" zones or high-risk flood areas, where the chance of flood damage in any given year is estimated as 1%. Mortgage-financed homeowners will be required to hold flood insurance in these areas and pay a median cost of $1,217 per year.

Flood insurance rates increase substantially for homeowners in "V" zones or areas with risk of storm waves. Only 0.7% of policyholders in Texas are in these areas, so the storm wave risk is low compared to a state like Florida, but property owners who do have to get a policy will pay a median of $1,849 per year.

Beginning in 2021, FEMA started pricing homes individually rather than applying the equal rates to all homes in the same flood zone type. For Texas homeowners, this means factors like your distance to water, the height of your lowest floor versus the expected height of a flood, your foundation type, your rebuild cost and even the type of flooding (river overflow, heavy rain, storm surge, etc.) can affect the pricing of your policy.

In other words, one home could end up paying very different rates than another home even if they're on the same street and designated in the same flood zone. MoneyGeek's analysis contains medians of averages of all policies in given areas, but individual homeowners may see quite different rates depending on their situation.

The NFIP can provide flood insurance coverage for up to $250,000 in damages to a building, and almost 78% of Texas policyholders elect to or are mandated to purchase that maximum limit at a median annual cost of $1,084 per year.

Mortgage holders in Texas who live in a high-risk flood zone (zones beginning with letters A and V) are required to buy flood insurance coverage equal to the loan amount or $250,000 (whichever is lower). But given that 71% of policyholders in Texas are in low-risk zones, it's clear that many policyholders are simply opting to purchase the full $250,000 in coverage voluntarily.

If the reconstruction cost of your home would be less than $250,000, lowering the building coverage limits of your flood insurance policy is one way to lower your insurance bills. Policies that cover under $100,000 in damages have a median yearly cost of $662, over $400 lower than those who opt for maximum coverage.

Changes in flood insurance rates each year depend on whether a homeowner has a full risk rate flood insurance policy or whether they are on a subsidized rate. When FEMA changed its calculation method for flood insurance policies in 2021, many homes were paying rates lower than what FEMA now designated as a full-risk rate. For example, a home paying $900 a year for flood insurance may have been recategorized as higher-risk and require a premium of $1,300.

Rather than raise rates on these individuals immediately, Congress capped rate rises at 18% a year until those policies catch up the full-risk rate. MoneyGeek found that about 60% of Texas policies already pay the full risk-rate and about 40% are subsidized. The latter are likely to continue seeing 18% rate raises each year, while the former have a very minor risk of major rate changes.

If you were one of the Texas policyholders paying less than the full-risk rate, you will continue to receive rate increases of 18% per year until you reach that rate. The NFIP calls this the "glide path." And your bill may increase more than 18% if fees and surcharges increase too.

For example, a home paying $900 per year for flood insurance with a full-risk rate of $1,300 would see 18% rate raises in successive years, paying $1,062 the following year, $1,253 the year after that and $1,300 in the next year assuming that the full-risk rate remains the same during this time.

If a flood policyholder is at the full-risk rate — and that full-risk rate remains unchanged — they should see only minor changes in their flood insurance costs until and if that full-risk rate changes. MoneyGeek analyzed a selection of renewed flood insurance policies in Texas over the last four years and found that most full-risk prices only changed a few percentage points per year (ranging from -2% to +3%), so these policyholders are unlikely to see major changes in their yearly costs.

Most flood insurance policyholders in Texas bought it voluntarily, as about 70% of NFIP policies held in the state are in low-risk flood areas. There are two scenarios in which a homeowner would be required to get flood insurance: they have a mortgage-backed home in a high-risk "A" or "V" zone or they live in a V zone and they want to get Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) wind coverage.

The first group, those with mortgage-backed homes in high-risk zones, is not just the case in Texas but also the rest of the country. Those who have financed their home purchase in an "A" or "V" zone will be required by their lender to get some form of flood insurance.

The second group is specific to Texas and will only apply to very few homeowners. The TWIA is an insurer of last resort of wind and hail coverage, and if you are in a wave damage "V" zone and want coverage from the TWIA on a home built or altered after 2009, you'll have to prove that you have flood insurance first. Considering that less than 1% of flood insurance policyholders in Texas are in a "V" zone, this requirement for flood insurance will only apply to a very small share of the population.