County Hazards

States › New Jersey › Cape May County › ZIP 08204

ZIP code 08204, Cape May County, New Jersey

National Flood Insurance Program claims and payouts recorded for this ZIP code, with county context.

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. NFIP claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

OpenFEMA lists 1,480 NFIP claims for ZIP 08204 (Cape May County, New Jersey), with $12M paid on 1,182 claims since 1978.

That is 5.3% of the 28,016 claims recorded across Cape May County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $10K, lower than the county average of $18K and the New Jersey average of $38K.

FEMA counts 80 repetitive-loss properties and 10 severe repetitive-loss properties in the ZIP (properties with two or more paid flood claims); their locations are not published.

At county level FEMA counts 25,975 residential flood policies in force, covering 40.1% of residential structures.

1,480NFIP claims since 1978
1,182paid claims
$12Mtotal paid
$10Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 08204Cape MayNew JerseyUS
Claims since 19781,48028,016202,3402,680,429
Share of claims paid80%81%84%78%
Average paid claim$10K$18K$38K$43K
Share of county claims5.3%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties802,28614,863—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 08204 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s54$30,618
1980s810$4,685,539
1990s395$3,644,309
2000s48$314,450
2010s166$3,376,004
2020s7$123,564
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
202511$90,806$90,806
202431$15,850$15,850
202322$16,908$8,454
202110$0—
201921$127,460$127,460
201822$75,708$37,854
201710$0—
20161713$648,893$49,915
201531$57,699$57,699
201342$13,483$6,741
201210371$2,238,852$31,533
20112111$166,974$15,179
2010136$46,937$7,823
2009179$56,923$6,325
200893$59,957$19,986
200710$0—
200622$70,774$35,387
200532$9,453$4,727
200422$19,085$9,543
200363$17,545$5,848
200110$0—
200075$80,713$16,143
19983325$312,430$12,497
199764$166,101$41,525
199653$8,626$2,875
199510$0—
19943525$257,336$10,293
199351$634$634
1992288245$2,651,480$10,822
19912219$247,702$13,037
198921$1,666$1,666
19872318$217,580$12,088
198622$2,162$1,081
1985428382$3,363,041$8,804
198411682$424,956$5,182
198341$305$305
198220$0—
198152$1,522$761
1980228197$674,307$3,423
19794834$28,536$839
197864$2,081$520

Claims are counted by year of loss as recorded in OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims file; amounts combine building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments. ZIP codes in the file are the policyholder's reported ZIP.

County context: Cape May County

Cape May County has 338 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (5 in the last 12 months), 34 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Moderate". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 51; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 3.

Hail: 31 · Tornado: 11 · Flood: 51 · Wind: 140 · Winter: 0 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 08204?

1,480 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 1,182 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 08204?

$12M across 1,182 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $10K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 08204?

1985, with 428 claims and $3.4M paid.

What county is ZIP 08204 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Cape May County, New Jersey; ZIP codes can cross county lines. The county page carries the storm record, declarations and risk index for the area.

Provenance

OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 (as of 8 Sep 2026) and NfipMultipleLossProperties v1 (2 Aug 2026), aggregated by ZIP code and year of loss on this site; no property-level record is shown. County storm figures from NOAA NCEI through 30 Jun 2026. Built 1 Oct 2026. See the guide to redacted NFIP claims and the methodology.