County Hazards

States › Maryland › Worcester County › ZIP 21842

ZIP code 21842, Worcester County, Maryland

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.

ZIP code 21842, in Worcester County, Maryland, has 1,912 National Flood Insurance Program claims in the OpenFEMA record since 1978, 1,246 of them paid for a total of $14M.

That is 75.9% of the 2,519 claims recorded across Worcester County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $11K, close to the county average of $12K and the Maryland average of $23K.

FEMA counts 54 repetitive-loss properties and 2 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 7,870 residential flood policies in force, covering 23.9% of residential structures.

1,912NFIP claims since 1978
1,246paid claims
$14Mtotal paid
$11Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 21842WorcesterMarylandUS
Claims since 19781,9122,51925,3762,680,429
Share of claims paid65%66%59%78%
Average paid claim$11K$12K$23K$43K
Share of county claims75.9%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties541031,305—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 21842 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s18$27,062
1980s439$2,719,798
1990s776$4,801,691
2000s109$510,041
2010s550$5,926,079
2020s20$63,568
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
202610$0—
202530$0—
202421$35,313$35,313
202331$7,739$7,739
202220$0—
202121$3,993$3,993
202073$16,523$5,508
201910$0—
201895$19,824$3,965
201710$0—
2016117$62,812$8,973
201552$9,585$4,793
201383$22,859$7,620
2012500358$5,801,217$16,205
2011102$3,510$1,755
201053$6,271$2,090
20094229$265,187$9,144
2008113$11,877$3,959
2006102$27,576$13,788
2005164$18,081$4,520
200430$0—
2003136$98,487$16,415
200232$6,095$3,047
200120$0—
200097$82,738$11,820
1999122$58,772$29,386
1998337243$1,674,609$6,891
199762$17,648$8,824
1996137$45,292$6,470
199530$0—
1994154$22,236$5,559
1993177$14,999$2,143
1992342257$2,813,479$10,947
19912817$154,655$9,097
199030$0—
1989187$8,963$1,280
198810$0—
198761$1,042$1,042
198674$14,131$3,533
1985339221$2,636,591$11,930
1984207$19,751$2,822
1983206$2,507$418
1982162$3,137$1,569
198186$33,675$5,613
198040$0—
197954$3,086$771
19781310$23,976$2,398

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: Worcester County

Worcester County has 271 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (4 in the last 12 months), 14 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Low". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 40; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 5.

Hail: 32 · Tornado: 15 · Flood: 40 · Wind: 111 · Winter: 0 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 21842?

1,912 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 1,246 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 21842?

$14M across 1,246 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $11K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 21842?

2012, with 500 claims and $5.8M paid.

What county is ZIP 21842 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Worcester County, Maryland; 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 30 Sep 2026. See the guide to redacted NFIP claims and the methodology.