County Hazards

States › Iowa › Polk County › ZIP 50265

ZIP code 50265, Polk County, Iowa

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 413 NFIP claims for ZIP 50265 (Polk County, Iowa), with $4.2M paid on 321 claims since 1978.

That is 26.6% of the 1,550 claims recorded across Polk County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $13K, lower than the county average of $31K and the Iowa average of $30K.

FEMA counts 9 repetitive-loss properties and 0 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 670 residential flood policies in force, covering 0.4% of residential structures.

413NFIP claims since 1978
321paid claims
$4.2Mtotal paid
$13Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 50265PolkIowaUS
Claims since 19784131,55014,7882,680,429
Share of claims paid78%80%81%78%
Average paid claim$13K$31K$30K$43K
Share of county claims26.6%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties9611,104—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 50265 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s0$0
1980s45$401,712
1990s345$3,213,025
2000s9$33,086
2010s13$560,117
2020s1$0
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
202010$0—
201854$262,023$65,506
201554$193,319$48,330
201032$104,775$52,387
200883$33,086$11,029
200310$0—
199910$0—
19982819$47,325$2,491
199722$4,762$2,381
1993232196$2,669,560$13,620
19908259$491,379$8,328
19863526$388,936$14,959
198453$2,570$857
198331$1,992$1,992
198211$6,037$6,037
198111$2,178$2,178

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: Polk County

Polk County has 2,373 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (13 in the last 12 months), 21 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Moderate". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 295; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 0.

Hail: 670 · Tornado: 68 · Flood: 295 · Wind: 769 · Winter: 87 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 50265?

413 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 321 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 50265?

$4.2M across 321 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $13K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 50265?

1993, with 232 claims and $2.7M paid.

What county is ZIP 50265 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Polk County, Iowa; 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.