Statistics

Overall Preparedness Rates Stat Detail Source 57% of Americans say they have taken steps to prepare for a disaster — FEMA National Preparedness Survey, 2023 43% of Americans have done nothing to prepare for a major emergency — FEMA National Preparedness Survey, 2023 17% of U.S. adults describe themselves as “very well prepared” for a major emergency — Pew Research Center, 2022 37% of Americans have experienced a presidentially declared disaster in their lifetime — FEMA, 2023 Overall preparedness rates have remained stagnant for more than a decade. Despite increased federal spending on public outreach and a rise in severe weather events, the share of households taking meaningful preparedness actions has not significantly improved since 2010. | 3 in 5 | Americans say they would rely on government assistance in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster | — American Red Cross, 2023 | ...

National Preparedness Overview Stat Detail Source 48% of Americans have a three-day emergency supply of food and water — FEMA National Household Survey, 2023 39% have a household emergency plan that all family members know and have practiced — FEMA, 2023 61% of Americans have no emergency plan at all — the single largest preparedness gap — FEMA, 2023 17% have taken a first aid or CPR course in the past five years — American Red Cross / FEMA, 2023 | ~24 hrs | median household food supply — three times below the FEMA-recommended 72-hour minimum | — FEMA National Household Survey, 2023 | ...

Ownership Rates Stat Detail Source 22% of U.S. households own a portable generator — EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), 2020 5.6% of U.S. households have a permanently installed standby generator — EIA RECS, 2020 ~29M estimated U.S. households with at least one generator (portable or standby) — EIA RECS, 2020 / Industry estimates, 2023 3x higher generator ownership in rural areas vs. urban areas — EIA RECS, 2020 | 37% | of Americans in hurricane-prone coastal counties own a generator — vs. 19% nationally | — EIA, 2020 / FEMA, 2022 | ...

Atlantic Hurricane Season Overview Stat Detail Source 14 named storms per average Atlantic hurricane season (1991–2020 baseline) — NOAA National Hurricane Center, 2024 7 hurricanes per average season, of which 3 are major (Category 3 or higher) — NOAA NHC, 2024 26M Americans living in hurricane-risk coastal counties from Texas to Maine — NOAA, 2023 ~90% of hurricane deaths are caused by water — storm surge and inland flooding, not wind — NOAA National Hurricane Center, 2024 Evacuation Compliance Rates Stat Detail Source 60–80% evacuation compliance in mandatory evacuation zones during major hurricane events — FEMA / Hurricane behavioral studies, 2023 <40% evacuation compliance in voluntary or recommended evacuation zones — FEMA, 2023 48–72 hrs advance notice FEMA recommends issuing before evacuations — yet most residents wait for mandatory orders — FEMA / NWS Hurricane Preparedness Guidelines, 2024 15–20% of people refuse to evacuate because they cannot bring their pets, based on post-Katrina behavioral surveys — Fritz Institute / post-Katrina studies, 2006–2023 | ~70% | of Florida residents in mandatory evacuation zones complied during Hurricane Ian (2022) — a Category 5 storm | — FEMA / University of Florida survey, 2023 | ...

Overall Disaster Frequency Stat Detail Source 28 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the U.S. in 2023 — a new annual record — NOAA NCEI, 2024 18.0/yr average annual number of billion-dollar disasters from 2019–2023 — up from 7.7/yr in the 1980s — NOAA NCEI, 2024 59 major presidential disaster declarations issued by FEMA in an average year (2000–2022) — FEMA, 2023 1,000+ tornadoes touch down in the U.S. in a typical year — the most of any country on Earth — NOAA Storm Prediction Center, 2023 | $1 trillion+ | total cost of U.S. billion-dollar disasters from 1980 through 2023 (in 2023 dollars) | — NOAA NCEI, 2024 | ...

Outage Frequency & Duration Stat Detail Source ~3.5 hrs average annual outage duration experienced per U.S. electric customer (SAIDI without major events) — EIA, 2022 ~7 hrs average annual outage duration per customer including major events (storms, disasters) — EIA, 2022 8 hrs average total outage time experienced by a U.S. customer in 2020 — the highest in over a decade — EIA, 2021 1.33x increase in average outage duration per customer from 2013 to 2022 — EIA, 2023 | 3,571 | major power outage events (affecting 50,000+ customers) reported to DOE in 2022 | — DOE OE-417, 2023 | ...

How Many Americans Are Preppers? Stat Detail Source 3.7M Americans identify as “preppers” — people who actively prepare for long-term emergencies or societal disruption — Finder.com Consumer Survey, 2020 1 in 5 Americans (approximately 20%) say they have taken “significant steps” to prepare for a long-term emergency — Pew Research Center, 2022 52% of Americans say they have at least a 3-day supply of non-perishable food at home — FEMA, 2023 14% of Americans say they have a 2-week or longer food supply stored at home — Pew Research Center, 2023 | 68% | increase in self-identified preppers in the U.S. from 2017 to 2022 | — Finder.com / Industry estimates, 2022 | ...

National Wildfire Overview Stat Detail Source 58,403 wildfires recorded in the U.S. in 2023 — National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), 2024 2.7M acres burned by U.S. wildfires in 2023 — below the 10-year average of ~7M acres — NIFC, 2024 ~7M average acres burned annually in the U.S. over the past decade (2014–2023) — NIFC / U.S. Forest Service, 2024 10.1M acres burned in 2020 — the highest single-year total in modern U.S. history — NIFC, 2021 | 1970s → now | U.S. wildfire season has extended by approximately 78 days (2.5 months) since the 1970s due to earlier snowmelt and drier conditions | — U.S. Forest Service, 2022 | ...