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US hurricane data

US hurricane statistics

Every direct US landfall since 1851 — by state, decade and category, from NOAA HURDAT. Free to reuse (CC BY 4.0).

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309 direct hurricane hits on the continental US since 1851 98 major (Cat 3+) — one in three came ashore as a major storm
129 direct hurricane hits in Florida since 1851 the most of any state — 41 major (Cat 3+), 3 Category-5
67 direct hurricane hits in Texas 19 major (Cat 3+) — the busiest Gulf coast after Florida & Louisiana
65 direct hurricane hits in Louisiana since 1851 20 major (Cat 3+) — the third-most of any US state
4 Category-5 hurricanes have ever hit the US Labor Day 1935 · Camille 1969 · Andrew 1992 · Michael 2018
13 named storms in the 2025 Atlantic season 5 hurricanes · 4 major · but 0 US hurricane landfalls

Source: NOAA NHC/AOML — Continental US Hurricane Impacts/Landfalls, 1851–2025; 2025 Atlantic season NOAA / HURDAT2.

US hurricane strikes per decade

01020 1850s: 19 US hurricanes 1860s: 15 US hurricanes 1870s: 20 US hurricanes 1880s: 21 US hurricanes 1890s: 21 US hurricanes 1900s: 18 US hurricanes 1910s: 20 US hurricanes 1920s: 14 US hurricanes 1930s: 20 US hurricanes 1940s: 24 US hurricanes 1950s: 17 US hurricanes 1960s: 12 US hurricanes 1970s: 12 US hurricanes 1980s: 15 US hurricanes 1990s: 14 US hurricanes 2000s: 19 US hurricanes 2010s: 19 US hurricanes 2020s: 9 US hurricanes 1850s1870s1890s1910s1930s1950s1970s1990s2010s

Counts per decade at the storm's highest US category. The rate is remarkably steady across 170+ years — the 1940s were the busiest (24 strikes). The final bar (2021-2025) is a partial, in-progress decade.

Source: NOAA NHC/AOML Data as of Download CSV
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US hurricane strikes by Saffir-Simpson category

Category 1 Category 1: 125 US hurricanes 125 Category 2 Category 2: 86 US hurricanes 86 Category 3 Category 3: 64 US hurricanes 64 Category 4 Category 4: 30 US hurricanes 30 Category 5 Category 5: 4 US hurricanes 4

The intensity pyramid: weaker storms make landfall far more often. 125 Category-1 hits versus just 4 Category-5 — but the 98 major (Cat 3+) landfalls cause the great majority of hurricane damage.

Source: NOAA NHC/AOML Data as of Download CSV
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The 4 Category-5 US landfalls

Only 4 hurricanes have ever struck the continental US at Category 5 (sustained winds ≥ 157 mph / 137 kt at landfall). Every other cat-5 in the record weakened before the coast.

1935 Labor Day FL, SE5, SW5, NW2; I-GA, 1
1969 Camille LA, 5; MS, 5; AL, 1
1992 Andrew FL, SE5, SW4; LA, 3
2018 Michael FL, NW5; I-GA, 2

Hurricane hits by state, 1851–2025

Texas: 67 direct hits California: 0 direct hits Kentucky: 0 direct hits Georgia: 29 direct hits Wisconsin: 0 direct hits Oregon: 0 direct hits Missouri: 0 direct hits Virginia: 13 direct hits Tennessee: 0 direct hits Louisiana: 65 direct hits New York: 15 direct hits Idaho: 0 direct hits Florida: 129 direct hits Illinois: 0 direct hits Montana: 0 direct hits Minnesota: 0 direct hits Maryland: 2 direct hits Iowa: 0 direct hits District of Columbia: 0 direct hits Washington: 0 direct hits South Dakota: 0 direct hits Ohio: 0 direct hits Nebraska: 0 direct hits Indiana: 0 direct hits Massachusetts: 12 direct hits Nevada: 0 direct hits North Dakota: 0 direct hits Arkansas: 0 direct hits Mississippi: 22 direct hits Colorado: 0 direct hits North Carolina: 60 direct hits Utah: 0 direct hits Oklahoma: 0 direct hits Wyoming: 0 direct hits West Virginia: 0 direct hits South Carolina: 33 direct hits Maine: 2 direct hits Alabama: 31 direct hits Kansas: 0 direct hits Rhode Island: 10 direct hits Connecticut: 11 direct hits Michigan: 0 direct hits Delaware: 2 direct hits New Mexico: 0 direct hits Vermont: 0 direct hits New Jersey: 4 direct hits Pennsylvania: 1 direct hits New Hampshire: 1 direct hits Arizona: 0 direct hits TXCAKYGAWIORMOVATNLANYIDFLILMTMNMDIAWASDOHNEINMANVNDARMSCONCUTOKWYWVSCMEALKSCTMINMVTNJPANHAZ

Most direct hits since 1851

Florida Florida: 129 direct hits 129 Texas Texas: 67 direct hits 67 Louisiana Louisiana: 65 direct hits 65 North Carolina North Carolina: 60 direct hits 60 South Carolina South Carolina: 33 direct hits 33 Alabama Alabama: 31 direct hits 31 Georgia Georgia: 29 direct hits 29 Mississippi Mississippi: 22 direct hits 22 New York New York: 15 direct hits 15 Virginia Virginia: 13 direct hits 13

Florida and the Gulf coast absorb the most — Florida alone accounts for 129 of the 309 national strikes (states are counted once per storm, so state totals sum higher than the national count). AK/HI & the interior sit off the map frame; the table below has every state.

Source: NOAA NHC/AOML Data as of Download CSV
Cat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5
Florida 493925133 41 129
Texas 32161180 19 67
Louisiana 26191451 20 65
North Carolina 3419610 7 60
South Carolina 199230 5 33
Alabama 206500 5 31
Georgia 206210 3 29
Mississippi 68701 8 22
New York 93300 3 15
Virginia 112000 0 13
Massachusetts 74100 1 12
Connecticut 72200 2 11
Rhode Island 52300 3 10
New Jersey 40000 0 4
Delaware 20000 0 2
Maine 11000 0 2
Maryland 20000 0 2
New Hampshire 01000 0 1
Pennsylvania 10000 0 1

Methodology & reuse

The figures come from NOAA's National Hurricane Center / AOML Hurricane Research Division "Continental United States Hurricane Impacts/Landfalls 1851-2025" table, built on the HURDAT2 best-track re-analysis. A "direct hit" is counted once per hurricane per state, at the highest Saffir-Simpson category of sustained winds that storm produced in that state (direct coastal landfalls plus the rare inland-only impacts, per NHC convention). A storm crossing several states is counted once in each — so state totals sum to more than the national count.

National counts use the table's own "Highest US Category" column (one count per storm), which is why the national total (309) is smaller than the sum of the state columns. Our per-decade and per-category totals reproduce NOAA's published decade × category table exactly, and the four Category-5 landfalls are independently reproduced from the raw HURDAT2 landfall records.

Caveats: counts before 1900 are underestimated (sparse coastal population and no aircraft or satellites to catch offshore-to-onshore storms), and the HURDAT re-analysis revises historical storms, so totals shift by a few counts between annual vintages. This is strike frequency, not damage — a single major landfall on a populated coast can outweigh a decade of weaker hits. The source is revised roughly each March; we refresh this snapshot with it.

The underlying NOAA data is US-government public domain; our charts and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0 — reuse them with attribution to DisasterStatus.

Cite this page

DisasterStatus, “US hurricane statistics & landfalls by state” (2026). https://disasterstatus.com/statistics/hurricanes

Download the data: by state · by decade · by category (CSV). Source: NOAA NHC/AOML US hurricanes table.

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