Natural hazards · Los Alamos

Los Alamos, NM natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Los Alamos comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Los Alamos?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Los Alamos to be higher than in 34% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and wildfires.

Inland flooding47%Wildfire33%Earthquakes10%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Los Alamos faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Wildfire

33% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamisVolcanic 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 Los Alamos flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Los Alamos County.

Disasters that hit Los Alamos

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Los AlamosDeclared for Los Alamos County only

Los Alamos County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

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. Los Alamos is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

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

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.