Storm risk in Richmond (independent city), Virginia

How FEMA rates Richmond

Expected yearly loss, in dollars

Rank 1 is the highest. Overall, hail and wind losses count buildings; the tornado row counts everything FEMA exposes, so it overstates building damage. Expected annual loss is an average over many years for the whole county, not a forecast for one roof.

What stands out in Richmond

• FEMA expects hail in Richmond to cost $7.43 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.33 times the U.S. median and 1.38 times the VA county median, ranked 2,258th of 3,126 counties nationally and 50th of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects strong wind in Richmond to cost $0.39 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.02 times the U.S. median and 0.03 times the VA county median, ranked 3,073rd of 3,121 counties nationally and 132nd of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects tornado in Richmond to cost $46 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.23 times the U.S. median and 0.86 times the VA county median, ranked 2,443rd of 3,144 counties nationally and 82nd of 133 in Virginia.
• NOAA has only 3 hail reports for Richmond in 12 years, too few for a trend; FEMA's 92 counted hail events cover a longer record.
• Applying FEMA's estimate to a $328,100 home, the average yearly loss in Richmond is about $2.44 for hail and $0.13 for wind before any deductible; at the U.S. median county rates it would be $7.33 and $6.68.
• If the next years look like 2014 to 2025, a roof kept 20 years in Richmond meets about 3.3 hail days of 1 inch or more; the median county in NOAA's file (1,275 counties) would give 35.0.
• Built in 1959, the median home in Richmond is 67 years old, so an original roof has outlived a 3-tab shingle (15 to 20 years) and an architectural one (25 to 30 years); 84.5% of its 112,848 homes are at least 26 years old.
• March to June holds 3 of the 3 hail reports in Richmond (100 percent); the quietest month is January, with 0 reports.

What hail and wind cost a home here in an average year

Enter a home value. The calculator applies Richmond’s own loss rate: the county’s expected yearly loss divided by the value of its buildings. It starts at the Census median home value for the county.

Read this as a yardstick. The rate is an average over every building in the county, from sheds to office towers, and over many years. Real losses come in rare, large storms; a roof with no damage in 19 years can need full replacement in the 20th. The figure is not a quote and not a prediction for one address.

Richmond in plain numbers

• Richmond scores 78.40 in FEMA's overall hazard index (Relatively Low): 680th of 3,144 rated counties and 8th of 133 in Virginia.
• Hail scores 59.38 (Relatively Low). FEMA expects $363,170 of hail damage to buildings in Richmond a year, which is $7.43 per $1 million of buildings, 0.33 times the U.S. median.
• Strong wind scores 29.48 (Relatively Low) with $19,120 of expected yearly building loss in Richmond: $0.39 per $1 million of buildings, 0.02 times the U.S. median.
• Tornado scores 66.76 (Relatively Moderate) and FEMA's expected yearly tornado loss is $2,268,447, counting everything exposed, or $46 per $1 million of buildings in Richmond.
• FEMA's own event record for Richmond averages 2.43 hail events and 2.16 strong-wind events a year.
• NOAA logged 3 hail reports in Richmond between 2014 and June 2026, on 2 days with stones of 1 inch or more; the largest was 1 inch.
• In Richmond, FEMA counts buildings worth 48.87 billion dollars and 226,269 residents.
• Social vulnerability is Relatively Low in Richmond.
• Community resilience there is Relatively Moderate, for 226,269 residents.
• 1 city in Richmond is covered on this site: Richmond. 9 Census ZIP areas have more than half of their land in the county.
• Our guide range for a 2,000 sq ft asphalt roof in Richmond is $6,860 to $15,190.
• Richmond ranks 148 of the 194 counties with a page here for hail loss per $1 million of buildings, 193 for wind and 177 for tornado.
• In Richmond, April is the busiest month with 2 of the 3 reports (67 percent), against 0 reports in October.
• Richmond's worst year was 2023, with 1 hail day at 1 inch or more and 2 reports. At the 2014 to 2025 pace that is 0.17 such days a year, one about every 72.0 months.
• The median home in Richmond was built in 1959; 71.5% of its 112,848 housing units date from before 1980, 84.5% from before 2000 and 9.7% from 2010 on.
• Census puts the median home value in Richmond at $328,100, and 43.5% of homes are lived in by their owners.
• 4,060 single-family building permits were issued in Richmond from 2014 to 2025, about 36.0 per 1,000 homes, peaking in 2021.
• NOAA lists 5 tornado tracks in Richmond since 2014; the strongest was an EF1 on September 17, 2018 near Richmond, 4 miles long.
• The fastest gust in NOAA's records for Richmond is 58 mph on February 21, 2014 at Richmond.
• The nearest county with a page here is Newport News (independent city), 62 miles from the centre of Richmond; its hail score is 60.62.
• Across counties the median is one roofing firm for every 5,189 homes; Census counted 14 roofing contractor establishments in Richmond in 2023, one for every 8,061 homes.

The hail record of Richmond, year by year

NOAA logged 3 reports in Richmond; hail of 1 inch or more fell on 2 days. With so few reports the yearly bars below are small numbers, and a single storm moves them.

Biggest hail days in Richmond

Where large hail was reported

FEMA scores the county as a whole. NOAA’s reports show where inside Richmond the big stones fell.

Wind and tornado records for Richmond

How old the roofs are

Census counts homes by the decade they were built. Under each bar is the number of hail days of 1 inch or more that an original roof from that decade has met, at Richmond’s 2014 to 2025 pace of 0.17 such days a year. Most roofs have been replaced since; the row shows what a roof that never was would have taken.

Roofers and past disasters in Richmond

Nearby counties

The closest counties that have a risk page, by distance between county centres. Loss is per $1 million of buildings; the columns marked "times here" divide the neighbour's loss by Richmond's.

All 194 counties, with a filter by state and sorting

Cities and ZIP areas in Richmond

1 city in this county is on PickARoofer. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are Census shapes that approximate ZIP codes; where we have a city’s ZIPs, the share is the part of each area’s land that lies in this county. 9 such areas have more than half their land here.

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