Editorial

Most disaster-prone counties in Kansas

Kansas has 1,883 county-level FEMA disaster declarations across 105 counties. The dominant hazard type is severe storm. Barton County leads with 28 declarations, followed by Butler County and Pawnee County.

This ranking shows every county in Kansas ordered by how many times FEMA has issued a disaster declaration affecting it. Counties near coastlines, river systems, or wildfire corridors tend to appear at the top because the same geographic exposure produces recurring events across decades.

Each county links to a full disaster history page with the complete declaration timeline, hazard type breakdown, decade trends, and whatever FEMA spending data is available. For a national view, see the most disaster-prone counties in America page.

Kansas ranking

All counties by FEMA declaration count

#CountyDeclarationsTop hazardFirst yearLatest year
1Barton County28Severe Storm19652025
2Butler County28Severe Storm19652025
3Pawnee County28Severe Storm19652025
4Edwards County27Severe Storm19652025
5Lyon County27Severe Storm19652025
6Cowley County26Severe Storm19732025
7Morris County26Severe Storm19692025
8Sumner County26Severe Storm19732025
9Wyandotte County26Severe Storm19692025
10Cherokee County25Severe Storm19732024
11Greenwood County25Severe Storm19652025
12Harvey County25Severe Storm19652024
13Rice County25Severe Storm19652025
14Stafford County25Severe Storm19652025
15Wabaunsee County25Severe Storm19672024
16Woodson County25Severe Storm19692025
17Osage County24Severe Storm19672025
18Reno County24Severe Storm19652025
19Crawford County23Severe Storm19672020
20Hodgeman County23Severe Storm19732025
21Leavenworth County23Severe Storm19672020
22Chase County22Severe Storm19652025
23Comanche County22Severe Storm19732025
24Doniphan County22Severe Storm19672024
25Franklin County22Severe Storm19672025
26Marion County22Severe Storm19652024
27Douglas County21Severe Storm19672020
28Harper County21Severe Storm19672025
29Kingman County21Severe Storm19672025
30Neosho County21Severe Storm19692024
31Rush County21Severe Storm19732025
32Russell County21Severe Storm19732025
33Elk County20Severe Storm19762025
34Kiowa County20Severe Storm19732025
35Washington County20Severe Storm19672023
36Atchison County19Severe Storm19672020
37Barber County19Severe Storm19732025
38Coffey County19Severe Storm19672025
39Ellsworth County19Severe Storm19692024
40Jackson County19Severe Storm19672020
41Jefferson County19Severe Storm19672020
42Linn County19Severe Storm19672024
43McPherson County19Severe Storm19652020
44Ness County19Severe Storm19672025
45Phillips County19Severe Storm20042025
46Pottawatomie County19Severe Storm19672024
47Pratt County19Severe Storm19732025
48Rooks County19Severe Storm19932025
49Anderson County18Severe Storm19672024
50Bourbon County18Severe Storm19692025
51Brown County18Severe Storm19732022
52Marshall County18Severe Storm19732022
53Osborne County18Severe Storm19732025
54Sedgwick County18Severe Storm19652020
55Clark County17Severe Storm19732024
56Clay County17Severe Storm19732022
57Jewell County17Severe Storm19932025
58Ottawa County17Severe Storm19732025
59Republic County17Severe Storm19672022
60Riley County17Severe Storm19662022
61Saline County17Severe Storm19692025
62Shawnee County17Severe Storm19662024
63Wilson County17Severe Storm19762024
64Chautauqua County16Severe Storm19732025
65Cloud County16Severe Storm19672024
66Dickinson County16Severe Storm19692020
67Ford County16Severe Storm19652024
68Graham County16Severe Storm19932025
69Miami County16Severe Storm19672020
70Nemaha County16Severe Storm19672022
71Sheridan County16Severe Storm19932025
72Smith County16Severe Storm19932025
73Wallace County16Severe Storm20042025
74Ellis County15Severe Storm19932025
75Geary County15Severe Storm19732024
76Labette County15Severe Storm19732020
77Lincoln County15Severe Storm19732025
78Meade County15Severe Storm19732024
79Montgomery County15Severe Storm19732020
80Allen County14Severe Storm19692024
81Gray County14Severe Storm19652025
82Logan County14Severe Storm20052025
83Haskell County13Severe Storm19732022
84Mitchell County13Severe Storm19672022
85Norton County13Severe Storm20052025
86Trego County13Severe Storm19932024
87Cheyenne County12Severe Storm20052025
88Gove County12Severe Storm20052025
89Johnson County12Severe Storm19692023
90Seward County12Severe Storm19732020
91Stevens County12Severe Storm19732025
92Thomas County12Severe Storm19932024
93Decatur County11Severe Storm20042020
94Finney County11Severe Storm19652024
95Hamilton County11Severe Storm19652024
96Kearny County11Severe Storm19652024
97Lane County11Severe Storm19932022
98Stanton County11Severe Storm19652025
99Greeley County10Severe Storm20052025
100Rawlins County10Severe Storm20052025
101Grant County9Severe Storm19652022
102Scott County9Severe Storm20052025
103Sherman County9Severe Storm20052025
104Morton County8Severe Storm20052022
105Wichita County8Severe Storm20052023