Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Alabama

Statewide risk profile

5.1M
Population
67
Counties
781
Departments
1,753
Stations

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
48.0
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
25th highest of 52
Life Safety per 100k
0.94
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
30th highest of 52
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$1.8B
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
19th highest of 52
Property Loss per Resident
$355
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
14th highest of 52

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Alabama, the largest single contributor is Tornado, 36% of the life-safety total.

Alabama carries an expected 48 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $1.8B in building loss per year. Ranks compare all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments in Alabama enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Alabama See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

72%
26%
Property (buildings): $1.8B (72.1%)
Life safety: $657.0M (26.2%)
Agriculture: $43.3M (1.7%)

Total expected annual loss: $2,505,515,195 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Tornado
$237.4M
Cold Wave
$145.0M
Heat Wave
$90.7M
Lightning
$48.2M
Strong Wind
$42.3M
Earthquake
$38.5M

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$1.1B
Hurricane
$426.1M
Tornado
$189.6M
Earthquake
$81.5M
Strong Wind
$17.5M
Coastal Flooding
$8.9M

County Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across counties in this state. Click any county for its full profile.

Fire Service Profile

9%
11%
79%
Career: 9%
Combination: 11%
Volunteer: 79%
Unreported: 1%
Residents per Station
2,902
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
34.5
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 781 departments registered in NERIS Public for Alabama. Departments that have not registered are not counted. The mix is computed over the departments NERIS registers to Alabama; departments based elsewhere that respond into it are counted in the total above but not in the mix. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

County Rankings

Counties in Alabama ranked by risk. Click column headers to sort. Click a county to see its departments.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department and station counts are derived from boundaries self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. A department serving several counties is counted in each, so the Departments column adds up to more than the statewide department total. Risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 67 counties
County Population Departments Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating
Jefferson County 667,755 54 $74.8M Relatively Moderate
Madison County 405,718 17 $51.1M Relatively High
Mobile County 412,590 19 $37.5M Relatively High
Shelby County 230,211 44 $33.1M Relatively High
Morgan County 124,471 19 $28.3M Relatively High
Tuscaloosa County 237,552 29 $27.7M Relatively Moderate
Baldwin County 246,989 29 $26.5M Very High
Lauderdale County 95,830 17 $24.8M Relatively High
Montgomery County 226,718 18 $21.5M Relatively Moderate
Marshall County 99,748 28 $21.5M Relatively High
Limestone County 111,233 16 $19.3M Relatively High
Calhoun County 116,090 17 $16.5M Relatively High
Etowah County 103,105 26 $16.2M Relatively High
Houston County 108,140 18 $14.0M Relatively High
Colbert County 58,022 16 $13.6M Very High
Cullman County 90,566 22 $12.4M Relatively High
DeKalb County 72,269 10 $11.4M Relatively High
Talladega County 81,021 13 $10.5M Relatively High
St. Clair County 94,166 38 $10.4M Relatively Moderate
Lawrence County 33,276 7 $9.9M Relatively High
Jackson County 53,053 23 $9.5M Relatively High
Walker County 64,841 28 $9.3M Relatively High
Franklin County 31,966 11 $8.8M Relatively High
Lee County 181,134 15 $8.8M Relatively Low
Blount County 59,518 28 $7.2M Relatively Moderate
Escambia County 36,629 20 $7.0M Very High
Marion County 29,184 12 $6.9M Relatively High
Covington County 37,628 25 $6.3M Very High
Coffee County 54,920 12 $6.0M Very High
Elmore County 89,526 24 $6.0M Relatively Moderate
Autauga County 59,947 13 $5.7M Relatively Moderate
Chilton County 45,992 21 $5.4M Relatively Moderate
Dale County 49,599 20 $5.2M Relatively High
Dallas County 36,858 19 $4.6M Relatively Moderate
Cherokee County 25,443 13 $3.8M Relatively High
Tallapoosa County 40,938 15 $3.8M Relatively High
Winston County 23,682 14 $3.6M Relatively High
Russell County 58,811 9 $3.4M Relatively Low
Lamar County 13,693 7 $3.4M Relatively High
Pickens County 18,721 12 $3.3M Relatively High
Clarke County 22,543 14 $3.2M Relatively High
Marengo County 18,851 7 $3.2M Relatively High
Fayette County 16,053 14 $3.1M Relatively High
Chambers County 34,192 7 $2.9M Relatively Moderate
Butler County 18,630 14 $2.9M Relatively Moderate
Hale County 14,829 12 $2.9M Relatively Moderate
Bibb County 22,130 9 $2.8M Relatively Moderate
Washington County 15,143 19 $2.7M Very High
Choctaw County 12,380 11 $2.6M Very High
Barbour County 24,643 15 $2.4M Relatively Moderate
Sumter County 11,878 9 $2.3M Very High
Pike County 32,987 12 $2.3M Relatively Moderate
Greene County 7,424 9 $2.3M Relatively High
Lowndes County 9,833 11 $2.1M Relatively High
Henry County 17,647 15 $2.1M Relatively High
Monroe County 19,388 12 $2.1M Relatively High
Geneva County 26,887 10 $1.9M Relatively High
Cleburne County 15,426 10 $1.8M Relatively High
Clay County 14,192 9 $1.8M Relatively High
Randolph County 22,510 14 $1.7M Relatively Moderate
Conecuh County 11,275 18 $1.5M Relatively High
Crenshaw County 13,122 16 $1.5M Relatively Moderate
Wilcox County 10,172 8 $1.2M Relatively High
Perry County 8,031 10 $1.2M Relatively High
Bullock County 10,058 7 $1.2M Relatively High
Macon County 18,691 7 $1.1M Very Low
Coosa County 10,300 9 $970.2K Relatively High
No counties match your search.
Don't see your department? Profiles exist for every department in NERIS Public with a published boundary polygon. Departments registered without a boundary, or not yet registered with NERIS, do not have a page yet because the analysis is geography-based. See why a department might be missing or contact us and we will look into it.

Risk Snapshot

15.6%
Poverty Rate
17.8%
Age 65+
16.5%
Disability Rate
9.2%
Uninsured
42.1%
Pre-1980 Housing
12.3%
Mobile Homes
14.5%
Vacancy Rate
0.7%
Wood Heat
$69,860
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

564
Last 10 Years
1164
Last 25 Years
Hurricane
Most Frequent

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