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3 Jun, 2025
Analysis | Latest
Plan Smarter: National Risk Index Layer Now on Radius+
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Written by James McLean

James McLean is the Head of Business Development at Radius+. James helps maintain external relationships with clients and assisting internally with the sales process. He also, manages internal data processes working alongside the operations team to ensure we are supporting high level data quality.

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The Radius+ team is excited to announce our newest map layer – the National Hazard Risk index!

Overview:

The National Risk Index is a dataset that illustrates the communities at risk for 18 natural hazards. The data is published annually by FEMA.

These natural hazards include:

  • Avalanche
  • Coastal flooding
  • Cold wave
  • Drought
  • Earthquake
  • Hail
  • Heatwave
  • Hurricane
  • Ice storm
  • Landslide
  • Lightning
  • Riverine flooding
  • Strong wind
  • Tornado
  • Volcanic Activity
  • Wildfire
  • Winter Weather
  • Composite (all hazards)

For each hazard, the dataset provides:

  • Risk Score
  • Expected Annual Loss Rate (Buildings)
  • Frequency

The map is color-coded by Risk Score, which reflects how likely a hazard is to occur in a given area:

1 = Very Low

2 = Low

3 = Moderate

4 = High

5 = Very High

Data Definitions:

Expected Annual Loss Rate: Expected Annual Loss Rate is a measure of relative natural hazard intensities independent of the community’s exposure value. They represent the average percentage losses to buildings, population, and/or agriculture (consequence types) each year due to natural hazards.

Frequency: The expected frequency or probability of a hazard occurrence per year.

Risk Score: This score reflects a community’s overall risk of negative impacts from natural hazards. It’s rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating very low risk and 5 indicating very high risk.

National Risk Index screenshot