Editorial

Most disaster-prone counties in New Jersey

New Jersey has 623 county-level FEMA disaster declarations across 21 counties. The dominant hazard type is hurricane. Atlantic County leads with 36 declarations, followed by Cape May County and Essex County.

This ranking shows every county in New Jersey 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.

New Jersey ranking

All counties by FEMA declaration count

#CountyDeclarationsTop hazardFirst yearLatest year
1Atlantic County36Hurricane19652021
2Cape May County34Hurricane19652021
3Essex County33Hurricane19652021
4Morris County33Hurricane19652021
5Ocean County33Hurricane19652025
6Bergen County32Hurricane19652021
7Burlington County31Hurricane19652021
8Cumberland County31Hurricane19652021
9Middlesex County30Hurricane19652021
10Passaic County30Hurricane19652021
11Somerset County30Hurricane19652021
12Union County30Hurricane19652021
13Gloucester County28Hurricane19652021
14Mercer County28Hurricane19652021
15Monmouth County28Hurricane19652021
16Sussex County28Hurricane19652021
17Warren County27Hurricane19652023
18Hunterdon County26Hurricane19652021
19Salem County26Hurricane19652021
20Camden County25Hurricane19652021
21Hudson County24Hurricane19652021