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Flood Insurance in Highlands County, Florida

Your lender set the requirement. Nobody set the price.

Flood insurance paid $1.2 million on 31 claims in Highlands County after Hurricane Ian. That one event was 61% of everything flood insurance paid there in the past decade.[1]

Highlands County at a glance

Flood policies in force in Highlands County
994[2]
Flood claims paid in 10 years
$1.9[1]million
CRS discount, unincorporated Highlands County
10%[3]
First FEMA flood map
1983[4]

What floods have cost Highlands County

113[1]

Flood claims filed in Highlands County in the last 10 years.

Flood claims paid in Highlands County, by storm[1]

  1. Hurricane Ian 2022, 31 claims $1.2M
  2. Hurricane Irma 2017, 65 claims $638,078
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Flood zones in Highlands County

Same flood zone, very different prices. Your zone decides if a lender requires flood insurance. The price depends on the home itself.

Zone A Zone AE Zone X [5]

If your home is in a high-risk zone and your mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, flood insurance is required.

Map of Florida with Highlands County shaded
Highlands County, Florida[6]

What sets the price in Highlands County

Same flood zone, very different prices in Highlands County. Here is why.

Your zone decides whether the lender requires flood insurance. It does not set your NFIP price. Since 2021, FEMA prices each policy from the building and its spot.[7]

  1. How often the spot floods. FEMA looks at how often flooding reaches the building's location.
  2. How close it sits to water. The distance from the building to a flooding source.
  3. The building itself. How high the first floor sits and what it would cost to rebuild.
Unincorporated Highlands County: Community Rating System Class 8, 10% discount, on a scale that tops out at 45%. 0% 45%
Unincorporated Highlands County earns 10% off NFIP flood premiums in the high-risk zone.[3]

Find out what your Highlands County address needs

Your flood zone and your community's discount, in one check.

Questions about flood insurance in Highlands County

Is flood insurance required in Highlands County?

If your home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area (zones A, AE) and you have a federally backed mortgage, yes. In zone X it is optional. Homeowners insurance does not cover flood. [8][5]

Is there a waiting period for flood insurance in Highlands County?

Highlands County's 994 NFIP policies follow federal rules: 30 days for a standard NFIP purchase. No wait when the policy is bought as part of getting, refinancing, increasing, extending or renewing a loan on the home. One day when a new flood map just placed the home in a high-risk zone (within 13 months of the map date). [9][2]

What does flood insurance cost in Highlands County?

The county average is $483 per year across 994 active NFIP policies (FEMA, July 2026). [2]

How much did Hurricane Ian cost Highlands County?

31 NFIP claims and $1.2 million paid in Highlands County, per federal claim records. [1]

Your flood toolkit for Highlands County

  • Emergency management

    Emergency Management[10]

    Call (863) 402-6800

  • Flood zone help

    Highlands County Engineering, Stormwater (Flood Information)[11]

    Call (863) 402-6877

Keep reading about flood insurance in Highlands County

Counties next to Highlands County

Sources and dates

  1. FEMA OpenFEMA, FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims v2. Highlands County NFIP claims, last 10 years. Read July 4, 2026.
  2. FEMA OpenFEMA, FIMA NFIP Redacted Policies v2. Highlands County NFIP policies in force. Read July 4, 2026.
  3. FEMA CRS Eligible Communities, October 1, 2026 effective date (PDF). Highlands County Community Rating System class. Read November 4, 2026.
  4. FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, Florida. Highlands County first flood map. Read November 6, 2026.
  5. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), layer 28 'Flood Hazard Zones', DFIRM_ID 12055C, distinct FLD_ZONE. Highlands County flood zones. Read November 10, 2026.
  6. U.S. Census Bureau, cartographic boundary files, 2017 edition, 1:10,000,000 (as redistributed in us-atlas 3.0.1). County and state outlines on the map. Read October 27, 2026.
  7. FEMA, Understanding Risk Rating 2.0 fact sheet, July 2025. The rating variables: frequency of flooding, proximity to flood sources, first floor height and the cost to rebuild; Risk Rating 2.0 since October 1, 2021. Read October 26, 2026.
  8. 42 U.S.C. 4012a, Flood insurance purchase requirements. A federally regulated lender requires flood insurance on a building in a Special Flood Hazard Area. Read October 26, 2026.
  9. 44 CFR 61.11, Effective date and time of coverage. The 30-day wait, the loan exception and the map revision exception. Read October 29, 2026.
  10. highlandsfl.gov. Emergency Management. Read November 6, 2026.
  11. highlandsfl.gov. Highlands County Engineering, Stormwater (Flood Information). Read November 8, 2026.
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