Editorial

Most disaster-prone counties in Utah

Utah has 240 county-level FEMA disaster declarations across 29 counties. The dominant hazard type is flood. Washington County leads with 14 declarations, followed by Salt Lake County and Utah County.

This ranking shows every county in Utah 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.

Utah ranking

All counties by FEMA declaration count

#CountyDeclarationsTop hazardFirst yearLatest year
1Washington County14Fire19772025
2Salt Lake County12Fire19832021
3Utah County12Fire19832023
4Davis County11Severe Storm19772021
5Wasatch County11Flood19772023
6Weber County11Flood19772021
7Millard County10Fire19772020
8Sanpete County10Flood19772023
9Box Elder County9Flood19772020
10Morgan County9Flood19772023
11Sevier County9Flood19772025
12Summit County9Flood19772021
13Tooele County9Flood19772020
14Duchesne County8Biological19772020
15Kane County8Biological19772020
16Piute County8Biological19772025
17Uintah County8Flood19772020
18Beaver County7Flood19772020
19Cache County7Flood19772020
20Daggett County7Biological19772020
21Garfield County7Biological19772021
22Iron County7Biological19772023
23Juab County7Biological19772020
24Emery County6Biological19772020
25San Juan County6Biological19772025
26Carbon County5Biological19772020
27Rich County5Biological19772020
28Grand County4Biological19772020
29Wayne County4Biological19772020