Most expensive natural disaster in the U.S. 2024| Statista

Most expensive natural disasters in the United States as of December 2024 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Characteristic	Cost in billion U.S. dollars
Hurricane Katrina (2005)	201.3
Hurricane Harvey (2017)	160
Hurricane Ian (2022)	119.6
Hurricane Maria (2017)	115.2
Hurricane Sandy (2012)	88.5
Hurricane Ida (2021)	84.6
Hurricane Helene (2024)	78.7
Hurricane Irma (2017)	64
Hurricane Andrew (1992)	60.5
U.S. drought/heatwave (1988)	54.6

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Release date

July 2025

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Region

United States

Survey time period

as of December 2024

Supplementary notes

Values have been adjusted for inflation by the source.

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The total costs of Hurricane Katrina amounted to 125 billion U.S. dollars at the time the disaster occurred in 2005. While this is around the same total cost as Hurricane Harvey, when adjusted for inflation, the former is more expensive, with the price being the equivalent of 201.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 (compared to 160 billion U.S. dollars for Hurricane Harvey).

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana on August 9, 2005 and displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The death toll reached almost 2,000 people. Katrina was also the most expensive U.S. catastrophe since 1992 in terms of property loss.

Harvey, Maria and Irma

Katrina was responsible for the spike in insured losses caused by natural disasters globally in 2005. Harvey, Maria and Irma also made quite the impact in 2017 when they hit central America and then made land on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The frequency and intensity of such natural disasters are increasing.