States most vulnerable to hail damage
Hail can fall anywhere in the U.S., but drivers in the following states are especially vulnerable to hail damage due to a combination of the incidence of hail-related events, the financial loss resulting from those events, and the proportion of the state’s population without the insurance to cover damages from hail.
To identify the states most vulnerable to hail damage, the data science team at Insurify turned to our database of more than 4.6 million car insurance applications, frequency and financial loss data from FEMA, and hailstorm data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Using this data, our data scientists assigned each state an uninsured hail risk score, which weighs each state’s population, the number of hail events it experiences, the expected cost of the losses, and the percentage of drivers in the state who have the relevant car insurance coverage to cover those losses.
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10. Arkansas
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 19.9 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $4.76
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 49%
Each year, Arkansas experiences around 160 hail events that collectively cause $13.9 million in financial losses. Severe thunderstorms routinely batter the state. These storms can produce tornadoes, floods, and hailstones the size of golf balls in some cases. Just 49% of Arkansas drivers have full-coverage car insurance, leaving more than half vulnerable to paying out of pocket for damage from these storms.
9. Missouri
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 29.6 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $8.29
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 56%
Thunderstorms can roll through Missouri any time of the year, but most occur between May and August. Hailstorms cause an estimated $49.7 million in financial losses per year in Missouri, but just 56% of drivers here have full-coverage car insurance to deal with any damage from those storms.
8. Iowa
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 30.7 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $9.10
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 59%
The Great Plains — a high plateau composed largely of grasslands — are at a higher elevation than the rest of the U.S. and offer the best conditions for hail to form. The largest and most frequent hailstorms sweep over the Great Plains during the spring and summer. All the states on this list are part of the Great Plains, with the exception of Arkansas and Missouri.
Iowa experiences 177 hail events per year on average, and the storms cause about $27.7 million in financial losses. The percentage of drivers with full coverage — 59% — slightly exceeds the national average of 57%.
7. South Dakota
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 39.3 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $15.57
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 69%
No stranger to extreme weather, South Dakota holds the record for the largest hailstone ever recorded in the U.S. The volleyball-sized ice chunk, which fell in Vivian, South Dakota, in 2010, measured 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.93 pounds.
This state experiences 134 hail events on average each year, collectively causing $12.7 million in financial losses. More than two-thirds (69%) of South Dakota’s drivers have full-coverage car insurance, making the state the most well-protected against hail damage.
6. Kansas
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 40.6 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $11.49
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 57%
Before South Dakota claimed the honor in 2010, Kansas held the record for largest hailstone recovered in the U.S. since 1970. The hailstone in Coffeyville, Kansas, fell at an estimated speed of 105 mph, making it the fastest ever recorded.
Kansas experiences 312 hail events each year — the highest number of any state — and suffers an estimated $32.8 million in financial losses. The percentage of drivers with comprehensive coverage, 57%, matches the national average.
5. Texas
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 53.8 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $13.47
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 51%
They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and that’s true for its hailstorms, too. The state experiences 124 hail events per year and suffers a staggering $338.6 million in property damage. Colorado, the state with the next-highest property damage bill, experiences less than half the property damage. But just 51% of drivers in Texas have enough car insurance to pay for damage resulting from a hailstorm.
4. Oklahoma
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 72.1 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $21.46
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 59%
A robust insurance policy is a smart purchase in Oklahoma, where residents experience 297 hail events on average each year — along with tornadoes, floods, fires, droughts, and severe winter storms. And while financial losses are estimated at $80.4 million per year, some storms are costlier than others. One such “billion-dollar storm” swept through Oklahoma and Texas in 2021, spitting hail as large as softballs and sending wind gusts of up to 69 mph.
The percentage of drivers with full coverage in Oklahoma, 59%, is slightly higher than the national average.
3. North Dakota
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 72.6 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $13.69
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 35%
North Dakota gets 86 hail events per year on average, causing $9.2 million in property damage. The state’s high Uninsured Hail Risk Score is due to the small percentage of people with comprehensive car insurance. Only one other state in the entire U.S. — Delaware — has fewer people carrying full coverage.
2. Colorado
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 95.8 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $30.07
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 61%
Colorado residents experience 94 hail events per year on average. However, the state has the second-highest average financial loss in the U.S., at $151 million, and the highest per-capita loss, at $30.07. The percentage of drivers with full-coverage car insurance is 61%, which is higher than the national average.
1. Nebraska
Uninsured Hail Risk Score: 100 (out of 100)
Expected yearly per capita financial losses from hail: $27.81
Share of drivers with full-coverage car insurance: 56%
Insurify’s data scientists identified Nebraska as the state most vulnerable to hail damage, in large part due to the high number of hail events it sees, the cost of the resulting damage, and the low share of its population with the necessary car insurance to cover repairs to their vehicles.
The state sees 206 hail events per year on average, suffering $50.8 million in financial losses each year as a result. The percentage of drivers with full-coverage car insurance is 56%, which is lower than the national average.
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