Natural hazards · Boulder

Boulder, WY natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Boulder comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Boulder?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Boulder to be higher than in 42% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches55%Inland flooding24%Lightning8%Earthquakes6%Wildfire5%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Boulder faces

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

Avalanches

55% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 52% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lightning

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Wildfire

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesLandslidesStrong windDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHeat wavesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Boulder flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Sublette County.

Disasters that hit Boulder

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BoulderDeclared for Sublette County only

Sublette County has had 2 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and droughts.

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. Boulder 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 Boulder’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Boulder. 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.