List of costliest Atlantic hurricanes

This is a list of the costliest Atlantic hurricanes, with US$1 billion (nominal) in property damage, broadly capturing the severity of the damage each tropical cyclone has caused. The list includes tropical storms, a tropical cyclone with a peak 1-minute maximum sustained wind in the range of 39–73 mph (63–118 km/h), placing them below the 74 mph (119 km/h) minimum needed to attain hurricane status.

Damage in Long Beach, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.

History

The number of $1 billion Atlantic hurricanes almost doubled from the 1980s to the 2010s, and inflation-adjusted costs have increased more than elevenfold.^[1] The increases have been attributed to climate change, more people moving to coastal areas,^[1] and the dramatic increase in construction costs since 1980.^[2][3][4][5]

The record of the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic is held jointly by hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Harvey (2017), both of which resulted in approximately $125 billion in property damage during the year they occurred. These storms are also the costliest tropical cyclones recorded worldwide. The hurricane seasons of those two hurricanes, the 2005 and 2017 Atlantic hurricane seasons, are also the second costliest, and most costly hurricane seasons recorded.

Most of the costliest Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history have peaked as major hurricanes. However, weaker tropical cyclones can still cause widespread damage. Tropical storms Alberto in 1994, Allison in 2001, Lee in 2011, Imelda in 2019 and Fred of 2021 each caused over a billion dollars in damage. As of 2023, no numbered tropical depressions have become a billion-dollar disaster.

List of costliest Atlantic hurricane seasons (as of 2025)

Rank	Cost	Season
1	≥ $294.803 billion	2017
2	$172.297 billion	2005
3	$129.517 billion	2024
4	$117.708 billion	2022
5	≥ $80.827 billion	2021
6	$72.341 billion	2012
7	$61.148 billion	2004
8	$54.336 billion	2020
9	≥ $50.526 billion	2018
10	≥ $48.855 billion	2008

Flooding typically accounts for about 60% of all of a storm's damages,^{[citation needed]} and this is reflected in the list with Harvey, Florence, and most recently Ida, which produced catastrophic rainfall; and with Katrina, Ike, Sandy, and Ian which produced devastating storm surges. Wind damage encompasses a large portion of storm damage as well, evidenced by Andrew, Irma, and Michael. Due to their excessive damage, the names of tropical cyclones accruing at least $1 billion in damage are usually retired by the World Meteorological Organization, but this is not always the case. Juan in 1985 was the first hurricane to cause at least a billion in damage and not be retired; its name was retired after a later usage (2003) that did not cause over a billion in damage. Since Juan, nine tropical cyclones that caused at least a billion in damage were not retired, the most notable of which being Sally in 2020 which caused at least $7.3 billion, the costliest storm not to have its name retired. As of March 21, 2024, the most recent billion-dollar hurricane to not have its name retired was Idalia in 2023.

The first hurricane to cause at least $1 billion in damage was Betsy in 1965, which caused much of its damage in southeastern Louisiana. Four years later, Camille caused over $1 billion in damage as it ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi at landfall, and Virginia after moving inland. After the 1960s, each decade saw an increase in tropical cyclones causing at least a billion in damage over the last, due to increasing urban development and population. In the 1970s, four hurricanes caused at least a billion in damage; the costliest of which was Agnes, which caused $2.1 billion in damage. The following decade featured seven hurricanes causing at least a billion in damage. In the 1990s, twelve tropical cyclones accrued at least a billion in damage, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The system greatly exceeded the damage figure of any preceding tropical cyclone, causing $27.3 billion in damage, mostly in South Florida. Nineteen tropical cyclones in the 2000s caused at least $1 billion in damage. The 2005 season had six billion-dollar hurricanes, the most of any season on record; this record was later surpassed in 2020, with eight billion-dollar hurricanes. Hurricanes Ivan (2004) and Irma (2017) caused at least $1 billion in damage in four separate countries. In the 2010s, twelve storms caused at least $1 billion in damage.^[6] Hanna was the first storm of the 2020s to become a billion dollar disaster.^[7]

Methodology

A collage of the top ten costliest Atlantic hurricanes, up to 2023, in descending cost from top left to lower right.

This list ranks tropical cyclones within the Atlantic that have accrued at least US$1 billion in damage, based on their nominal USD damage totals. Because the impact of inflation has not been adjusted out of these figures, they do not allow for the fact that $0.12 billion in 1965 (the earliest hurricane shown on the list) would be equivalent to $0.9 billion in 2023, or that it would require $7.4 billion in 2023 to be equivalent to $1 billion in 1965. Furthermore, the figures have not been adjusted for changes in population and wealth in coastal counties, making it hard to accurately compare the damage inflicted by hurricanes over time.

In 2018, Roger A. Pielke Jr. and Christopher Landsea published a peer-reviewed study in the scientific journal Nature Sustainability, which gave an estimate of the direct economic losses in the continental United States from 1900 to 2017 from each hurricane if that same event was to occur under contemporary (2017) societal conditions.^[8] The general formula for normalized losses ${\displaystyle D_{2018}}$ is

${\displaystyle D_{2018}=D_{y}\times I_{y}\times RWPC_{y}\times P_{2018/y}}$

where ${\displaystyle D_{y}}$ is reported damage in current-year US dollars, ${\displaystyle I_{y}}$ is the GDP deflator for inflation adjustment, ${\displaystyle RWPC_{y}}$ is an estimate of current-cost net stock of fixed assets and consumer durable goods to capture changes in real wealth per-capita, and ${\displaystyle P_{2018/y}}$ county population adjustment.^[8]

As the results of the Pielke / Landsea study do not extend beyond 2017, the column for normalized damage, shown in the list, is not available beyond that year.

Overall costliest

  was the costliest Atlantic hurricane at the time it dissipated

  data not available as source report ends with 2017^[8]

† indicates that the storm's impact in that season did not result in its name being retired

Costliest Atlantic hurricanes

Name	Nominal damage (Billions USD)	Normalized damage (Billions USD)	Season	Storm classification at peak intensity	Areas affected	References
Katrina	$125.0	$116.9	2005	Category 5 hurricane	Louisiana Mississippi The Bahamas United States Gulf Coast South Florida Northeast Eastern Canada	[9][10]
Harvey	$125.0	$62.2	2017	Category 4 hurricane	Texas Louisiana South America Central America The Caribbean Yucatan Peninsula	[10][11]
Ian	$113.1	data not available	2022	Category 5 hurricane	Trinidad and Tobago Venezuela Colombia ABC islands Jamaica Cayman Island Cuba Southeast United States	[12][failed verification]
Maria	$91.6		2017	Category 5 hurricane	Puerto Rico Lesser Antilles Greater Antilles Caribbean Sea Eastern United States	[13]
Helene	$78.7		2024	Category 4 hurricane	Yucatán Peninsula Honduras Cayman Islands Cuba Southeastern United States Midwestern United States	[14]
Irma	$77.2	$31.0	2017	Category 5 hurricane	Lesser Antilles Greater Antilles Caribbean Sea Eastern United States	[10]
Ida	$75.3	data not available	2021	Category 4 hurricane	Venezuela Colombia Panama Cayman Islands Cuba Southeastern United States Northeastern United States Canada	[15][16]
Sandy	$68.7	$73.5	2012	Category 3 hurricane	The Caribbean United States East Coast Eastern Canada	[10][17]
Ike	$38.0	$35.2	2008	Category 4 hurricane	Greater Antilles Texas Louisiana Midwestern United States Eastern Canada Iceland	[12][18][19]
Milton	$34.3	data not available	2024	Category 5 hurricane	Mexico Florida The Bahamas	[20][21]
Andrew	$27.3	$106.0	1992	Category 5 hurricane	The Bahamas Florida Louisiana	[12][22]
Wilma	$26.5	$31.9	2005	Category 5 hurricane	Greater Antilles Central America Florida	[23][24][25][26]
Ivan	$26.1	$25.9	2004	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean Venezuela United States Gulf Coast	[12][27][28]
Michael	$25.5	data not available	2018	Category 5 hurricane	Central America Florida Georgia United States Gulf Coast Eastern United States Eastern Canada Iberian Peninsula	[29][30]
Florence	$24.2		2018	Category 4 hurricane	West Africa Cape Verde Bermuda Eastern United States Atlantic Canada	[30][31]
Laura	$23.3		2020	Category 4 hurricane	Leeward Islands Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Haiti Cuba Southeastern United States	[32][33]
Rita	$18.5	$14.9	2005	Category 5 hurricane	Cuba Texas Louisiana	[34]
Charley	$16.9	$26.9	2004	Category 4 hurricane	Jamaica Cayman Islands Cuba Florida The Carolinas	[35][12]
Matthew	$16.5	$8.6	2016	Category 5 hurricane	Colombia Venezuela The Caribbean United States East Coast	[36][37]
Irene	$14.2	$10.8	2011	Category 3 hurricane	The Caribbean United States East Coast Eastern Canada	[38][39][40]
Hugo	$11.0	$25.1	1989	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean United States East Coast	[12][41]
Frances	$10.1	$16.5	2004	Category 4 hurricane	The Caribbean Eastern United States Ontario	[12][27][42][43]
Georges	$9.3	<$6.0	1998	Category 4 hurricane	The Caribbean United States Gulf Coast	[10][44][45][46][47][48]
Allison	$9.0	<$6.0	2001	Tropical storm	Texas Louisiana Southern United States	[49][12][50]
Gustav	$8.3	<$6.0	2008	Category 4 hurricane	Hispaniola Jamaica Cuba Louisiana	[12][18]
Beryl	$8.3	data not available	2024	Category 5 hurricane	Barbados Venezuela Caribbean Yucatán Peninsula United States Eastern Canada	[51]
Jeanne	$7.9	$13.6	2004	Category 3 hurricane	The Caribbean Eastern United States	[12][27][52][53]
Sally †	$7.3	data not available	2020	Category 2 hurricane	The Bahamas Florida Southeastern United States	[54][33]
Eta	$7.2	data not available	2020	Category 4 hurricane	The Caribbean Central America Cuba Eastern United States	[16]
Floyd	$6.5	$13.9	1999	Category 4 hurricane	The Bahamas Eastern United States Atlantic Canada	[12][55]
Mitch	$6.1	<$6.0	1998	Category 5 hurricane	Central America Yucatán Peninsula South Florida	[56][57][58]
Isabel	$5.5	<$6.0	2003	Category 5 hurricane	Greater Antilles The Bahamas Eastern United States Ontario	[12][59]
Dorian	$5.1	data not available	2019	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean The Bahamas Eastern United States Atlantic Canada	[60]
Imelda †	$5.0		2019	Tropical storm	Texas Louisiana Oklahoma Arkansas	[61]
Fran	$5.0	$11.1	1996	Category 3 hurricane	Eastern United States Ontario	[12]
Isaias †	$5.0	data not available	2020	Category 1 hurricane	Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Haiti Bahamas Eastern United States	[62]
Opal	$4.7	$10.0	1995	Category 4 hurricane	Guatemala Yucatán Peninsula Eastern United States	[12][63]
Zeta †	$4.4	data not available	2020	Category 3 hurricane	Jamaica Yucatan Peninsula Louisiana Mississippi	[64]
Debby †	$4.3	data not available	2024	Category 1 hurricane	Caribbean East Coast of the United States Atlantic Canada	[65]
Dennis	$4.0	<$6.0	2005	Category 4 hurricane	Greater Antilles Southeastern United States	[12][23][66]
Stan	$3.9	<$6.0	2005	Category 1 hurricane	Mexico Central America	[52][67]
Karl †	$3.9	<$6.0	2010	Category 3 hurricane	Mexico Central America	[68]
Idalia †	$3.5	data not available	2023	Category 4 hurricane	Yucatán Peninsula Cuba Eastern United States	[69]
Fiona	$3.4		2022	Category 4 hurricane	Lesser Antilles Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Bahamas Turks and Caicos Islands Bermuda Eastern Canada	[70]
Luis	$3.3	<$6.0	1995	Category 4 hurricane	Leeward Islands Puerto Rico Bermuda	[63]
Isaac †	$3.1	<$6.0	2012	Category 1 hurricane	The Caribbean Eastern United States	[71]
Delta †	$3.0	data not available	2020	Category 4 hurricane	Jamaica Cayman Islands Yucatan Peninsula Southeastern United States	[16][72]
Alicia	$3.0	$13.6	1983	Category 3 hurricane	East Texas Louisiana	[73]
Gilbert	$3.0	<$6.0	1988	Category 5 hurricane	Venezuela Central America Hispaniola Mexico	[74]
Lee †	$2.8	<$6.0	2011	Tropical storm	Louisiana Mississippi	[75]
Marilyn	$2.5	<$6.0	1995	Category 3 hurricane	The Caribbean Bermuda	[12][63]
Michelle	$2.4	<$6.0	2001	Category 4 hurricane	Central America Jamaica Cuba The Bahamas	[46][50]
Agnes	$2.1	$26.0	1972	Category 1 hurricane	Mexico Cuba Eastern United States	[12][76]
Joan	$2.0	<$6.0	1988	Category 4 hurricane	Lesser Antilles Colombia Venezuela Central America	[74]
Fifi	$1.8	<$6.0	1974	Category 2 hurricane	Jamaica Central America Mexico	[77][78]
Frederic	$1.8	<$6.0	1979	Category 4 hurricane	The Caribbean Southeastern United States	[79]
Dean	$1.7	<$6.0	2007	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean Central America	[52][80]
Dolly †	$1.6	<$6.0	2008	Category 2 hurricane	Cayman Islands Mexico Southwestern United States	[18]
Allen	$1.6	<$6.0	1980	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean Yucatán Peninsula Mexico South Texas	[52][81][82]
David	$1.5	<$6.0	1979	Category 5 hurricane	The Caribbean United States East Coast	[52][79]
Alex †	$1.5	<$6.0	2010	Category 2 hurricane	Central America Greater Antilles Texas	[83][84][85][86]
Juan †	$1.5	<$6.0	1985	Category 1 hurricane	United States Gulf Coast	[12]
Bob	$1.5	<$6.0	1991	Category 3 hurricane	United States East Coast Canada	[87]
Roxanne	$1.5	<$6.0	1995	Category 3 hurricane	Mexico	[63]
Ingrid	$1.5	<$6.0	2013	Category 1 hurricane	Mexico	[12]
Francine	$1.5	data not available	2024	Category 2 hurricane	Eastern Mexico Gulf Coast of the United States	[88]
Betsy	$1.4	<$6.0	1965	Category 4 hurricane	Louisiana South Florida Caribbean	[12]
Camille	$1.4	$26.4	1969	Category 5 hurricane	Mississippi Louisiana Alabama Virginia Cuba	[12]
Iota	$1.4	data not available	2020	Category 4 hurricane	Colombia Central America	[89]
Elena	$1.3	<$6.0	1985	Category 3 hurricane	Cuba United States Gulf Coast	[90]
Isidore	$1.3	<$6.0	2002	Category 3 hurricane	Cuba Yucatán Peninsula Louisiana	[91][92]
Francine†	$1.3	data not available	2024	Category 2 hurricane	Eastern Mexico Gulf Coast of the United States	[16]
Fred †	$1.3		2021	Tropical storm	Puerto Rico Hispaniola Cuba Jamaica Southeastern United States	[16]
Rafael †	$1.3		2024	Category 3 hurricane	Panama Costa Rica Colombia Jamaica Cayman Islands Cuba	[16]
Hanna †	$1.2		2020	Category 1 hurricane	Hispaniola Cuba Gulf Coast of the United States Mexico	[33]
Elsa †	$1.2		2021	Category 1 hurricane	Lesser Antilles Greater Antilles Venezuela Colombia East Coast of the United States Atlantic Canada	[16]
Lili	$1.2	<$6.0	2002	Category 4 hurricane	Lesser Antilles Greater Antilles Gulf Coast of the United States	[12]
Nicholas †	$1.1	data not available	2021	Category 1 hurricane	Mexico Gulf Coast of the United States	[93]
Nicole †	$1.0		2022	Category 1 hurricane	Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Bahamas South Atlantic states	[94]
Alberto †	$1.0	<$6.0	1994	Tropical storm	Southeastern United States	[75]
Bonnie †	$1.0	<$6.0	1998	Category 3 hurricane	Lesser Antilles East Coast of the United States	[10]

See also

• Tropical cyclones portal

• List of costliest tropical cyclones
• List of the deadliest tropical cyclones
• List of the most intense tropical cyclones