Natural hazards · Highlands

Highlands, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Highlands comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Highlands?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Highlands to be higher than in 84% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes.

Earthquakes84%Inland flooding15%Everything else1%

By hazard

What Highlands faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Earthquakes

84% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

15% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Highlands flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Highlands.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Highlands isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: San Mateo County.

Disasters that hit Highlands

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for San Mateo County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Highlands itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into HighlandsDeclared for San Mateo County only

San Mateo County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Highlands

Highlands and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

San Mateomostly earthquakesVery high

Highlandsmostly earthquakesVery high

Hillsboroughmostly earthquakesVery high

Baywood Parkmostly earthquakesHigh

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Highlands covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Highlands’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Highlands. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Highlands total about $2.2M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.