Most Hurricanes by State, Ranked: Florida Has Been Hit 120 Times
Since 1851, the National Hurricane Center counts 120 direct hurricane landfalls in Florida — nearly 40% of every hurricane to strike the US, and almost double second-place Texas. Here is every state ranked by how often the hurricanes actually come ashore, how many were monsters, and which storm each state remembers.
Ask which state gets the most hurricanes and the answer isn’t close. Florida has absorbed 120 direct hurricane landfalls since record-keeping began in 1851 — roughly two of every five that have struck the entire country, and nearly double what second-place Texas has taken. But raw frequency only tells half the story. The states that get hit least often are sometimes the ones that get hit hardest, and a few that take plenty of storms have never once taken a major one.
Below is the full ranking from the NOAA HURDAT record — total landfalls, the count of major (Category 3 and stronger) landfalls, and the storm each state is defined by. Read the two number columns together; the gap between them is where the real geography of hurricane risk shows up.
Every State, Ranked by Hurricane Landfalls
Direct continental-US hurricane landfalls, 1851–2023. The bar shows total landfalls; the “major” column counts how many reached Category 3 or stronger at landfall.
| # | State | Total landfalls | Major (Cat 3+) | Signature storm(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 120 | 37 | Andrew (1992, Cat 5), Michael (2018, Cat 5), Ian (2022) |
| 2 | Texas | 64 | 19 | Galveston 1900 (deadliest US disaster), Harvey (2017) |
| 3 | Louisiana | 63 | 19 | Katrina (2005), Ida (2021, Cat 4) |
| 4 | North Carolina | 58 | 7 | Hazel (1954, Cat 4), Floyd (1999) |
| 5 | South Carolina | 32 | 5 | Hugo (1989, Cat 4) |
| 6 | Alabama | 23 | 5 | Frederic (1979), Ivan (2004) |
| 7 | Georgia | 21 | 3 | Michael (2018, inland) |
| 8 | New York | 15 | 3 | 1938 “Long Island Express” (Cat 3) |
| 9 | Mississippi | 14 | 6 | Camille (1969, Cat 5), Katrina (2005) |
| 10 | Virginia | 13 | 0 | Chesapeake–Potomac Hurricane (1933) |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 12 | 1 | Great New England Hurricane (1938), Bob (1991) |
| 12 | Connecticut | 11 | 2 | Great New England Hurricane (1938) |
| 13 | Rhode Island | 10 | 0 | 1938 hurricane, Carol (1954) |
| 14 | New Jersey | 4 | 0 | Sandy (2012, post-tropical at landfall) |
| 15 | Maine | 3 | 0 | Carol/Edna (1954), Gerda (1969) |
| 16 | Maryland | 2 | 0 | Chesapeake–Potomac Hurricane (1933) |
| 17 | Delaware | 2 | 0 | 1878 Gale |
| 18 | New Hampshire | 1 | 0 | Great New England Hurricane (1938) |
Source: NOAA Hurricane Research Division / National Hurricane Center HURDAT continental-US landfall record, 1851–2023, verified November 5, 2026. Counts are direct hurricane landfalls; a storm that strikes two states is credited to each. The record ends in 2023, so it excludes 2024–2026 landfalls (which added to Florida, Texas and Georgia). States with no HURDAT hurricane landfall are omitted.
Why the Gulf and Southeast Atlantic Take the Brunt
The ranking traces the path of Atlantic hurricanes almost perfectly. Storms form over the warm tropical Atlantic and Caribbean and are steered west and northwest by the trade winds and the Bermuda High. That brings them straight at the Gulf Coast and the Southeast Atlantic seaboard — and Florida juts 400 miles into the middle of all of it, a peninsula with coastline on both the Atlantic and the Gulf. No other state is exposed from two directions, which is why Florida’s count dwarfs everyone else’s. Texas and Louisiana anchor the Gulf; the Carolinas catch the storms that curve up the Atlantic coast.
The Mississippi Paradox: Rarely Hit, Rarely Spared
Here is the number the frequency ranking hides. Mississippi has taken just 14 hurricane landfalls — 9th on the list, behind states like North Carolina with four times as many. But 6 of those 14 were major hurricanes, a 43 percent rate that is the highest in the country. Compare that with North Carolina: 58 landfalls, but only 7 major (12 percent). North Carolina gets grazed and side-swiped constantly by storms curving up the coast; Mississippi gets hit rarely, but when a storm aims up the funnel of the north-central Gulf, it tends to be a brute. The two worst to come ashore in the Lower 48 — Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 — both did it in Mississippi.
The Northeast Gets Hurricanes — Just Not Major Ones
New York has been hit 15 times, Massachusetts 12, Connecticut 11, Rhode Island 10. These are not hurricane-free states. But look at the major column: seven states — Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, Delaware and New Hampshire — have never recorded a Category 3+ landfall in the HURDAT record. The reason is the water. By the time a storm reaches the mid-Atlantic and New England coast, it is usually crossing cooler continental-shelf water that saps its strength, so it comes ashore as a Category 1 or 2 — or, like Sandy in 2012, as a post-tropical system. The towering exception is the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which came north so fast it stayed a Category 3 all the way to the Rhode Island and Connecticut shore.
Count Isn’t Damage
One caution about this ranking: it counts landfalls, not harm. A state can top the list and still not own the deadliest or costliest storms, because a single catastrophic hurricane does more damage than a dozen weak ones. Texas ranks second by count but holds the deadliest disaster in US history — the Galveston hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 8,000 people. For the human and financial toll rather than the head count, see the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in US history and every Category 5 to hit the US. Dig into the two most-hit states in Florida’s hurricane history and Texas’s hurricane history, compare this with the tornado version in states with the most tornadoes, or browse every storm in the hurricane database.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which state gets the most hurricanes?
Florida, by a wide margin. The NOAA HURDAT record counts 120 direct hurricane landfalls in Florida from 1851 through 2023 — nearly 40 percent of all US hurricane landfalls, and almost double second-place Texas (64). Florida also leads in major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger) with 37, ahead of Texas and Louisiana at 19 each.
Which state gets the strongest hurricanes?
By raw count, Florida again, with 37 major (Category 3+) landfalls. But by the share of its hurricanes that are major, Mississippi stands out: of its 14 landfalls, 6 were major — a 43 percent rate, the highest of any state. Mississippi is hit less often than its neighbors, but when it is hit, the storm is unusually likely to be catastrophic (Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 both came ashore there).
Does the Northeast get hurricanes?
Yes, but they rarely arrive as major hurricanes. New York has taken 15 landfalls, Massachusetts 12, Connecticut 11 and Rhode Island 10 — yet seven states (Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, Delaware and New Hampshire) have never recorded a Category 3+ landfall in the HURDAT record. Northeast storms usually weaken over cooler shelf water before landfall; the great exception was the Category 3 Great New England Hurricane of 1938.
How many hurricanes have hit the United States?
About 306 hurricanes made landfall on the continental United States between 1851 and 2023, affecting 18 states from Texas to Maine, according to the NOAA HURDAT record. That total counts direct hurricane landfalls only; it does not include the 2024–2026 seasons, which added further landfalls in Florida, Texas and Georgia.
Sources & Method
Landfall counts are the NOAA Hurricane Research Division / National Hurricane Center continental-US hurricane landfall record (HURDAT), 1851–2023, verified November 5, 2026 against NOAA’s published by-state totals and cross-checked against the list of United States hurricanes. “Major” means Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale at the time of US landfall. Counts are of direct hurricane landfalls, not tropical-storm or remnant impacts, and a storm striking two states is counted in each — so the state totals sum to more than the ~306 individual hurricanes. The record ends in 2023 and does not include 2024–2026 landfalls. Signature-storm call-outs are documented historical landfalls, several from our curated hurricane records.