Beaufort disaster risk ranks highest among luxury counties
Beaufort County, South Carolina, holds the top spot in disaster risk among major luxury counties, ranking at the 99.4th percentile. It faces modeled annual losses of $5,617 per $1 million in building value, predominantly from hurricanes that account for the bulk of exposure.
Beaufort County contains 8,816 million-dollar homes, or 141 per 1,000 owner-occupied properties. Hurricanes contribute $4,167 in modeled annual losses per $1 million of building value. South Carolina has 35,377 million-dollar homes in high-loss counties, making up 62.4 percent of its luxury housing stock at a density of 23.2 per 1,000 owner-occupied homes.
The highest risk major luxury disaster counties include Beaufort, SC at 99.4th percentile with $5,617 annual loss per $1M and 141 $1M+ homes per 1K; Collier, FL at 99.3rd with $4,112 and 211; Monroe, FL at 99.2nd with $4,740 and 318; Riverside, CA at 98.8th with $4,860 and 66; Hawaii, HI at 98.8th with $8,954 and 147; Napa, CA at 97.8th with $4,333 and 344; Martin, FL at 97.4th with $3,626 and 107; San Bernardino, CA at 96.5th with $4,729 and 60; Sonoma, CA at 96.3rd with $4,816 and 276; and Maui, HI at 96.1st with $3,813 and 397. Beaufort leads in percentile while Hawaii County has highest losses and Maui highest density.
Hilton Head Island saw its high-risk flood zone designation drop from roughly 75 percent under 1986 FEMA maps to 25 percent in 2021 revisions. The reduction changed insurance requirements for some homeowners, but did not establish that their underlying physical flood risk had disappeared. The island lost more than 2,000 federal flood insurance policies between April 2024 and February 2026, according to local reporting. Between 1978 and 2024 the town had 1,307 paid NFIP claims totaling over $43 million. It participates in the Community Rating System offering a 25 percent premium discount to qualifying policyholders.
Average annual NFIP premiums are $1,142 in Beaufort County, $913 on Hilton Head Island and $888 in Port Royal. These exceed the South Carolina statewide average of $743 by $399, $170 and $145 respectively.
Of 154 U.S. counties with at least 5,000 million-dollar homes, 42 rank in the top fifth nationally for modeled disaster loss rates and 28 in the top tenth. The 25 riskiest markets hold 633,459 million-dollar homes including 159,096 worth at least $2 million. South Carolina has two such counties while California has 12 and Florida seven. Major luxury counties average $1,493 in modeled annual loss per $1 million in building value, below Beaufort's level.
Barcus Arenas analyzed about 5.99 million owner-occupied homes worth at least $1 million using FEMA modeled county disaster losses. The study focuses on major luxury counties with 5,000 or more such homes and provides separate figures for risk percentiles and annual building loss rates.
