Homebuyers and owners can now buy federal flood insurance without going through an agent. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Oct. 20, 2026, that a policy from the National Flood Insurance Program can be purchased entirely online through Floodsmart.gov, an option open to anyone in the almost 22,700 communities that participate in the program.
The change matters most at the closing table. In mapped high-risk flood zones, federally regulated and federally backed mortgages require flood coverage, so buyers there need a policy in hand before closing. Buyers outside those zones, who are not required to carry the insurance, now have a quicker way to see a price and buy.
How the online flood insurance purchase works
A user requests a quote on Floodsmart.gov after entering basic information about the building. “Once you receive your quote, you will have the option to purchase a policy online or through an insurance agent,” FEMA said in the release. “If you choose to purchase online, you can do so on Floodsmart.gov in just a few minutes.”
Buyers who would rather go through a local or national insurance carrier can share their quote details with an agent, or the site will supply contact information for three licensed insurance agents in their state. FEMA described the self-service tool as “consistent with the insurance industry’s shift toward digital engagement,” and said it aims to make it easier for more Americans to get flood coverage. The release ties the launch to the White House’s America First Resilience Strategy, unveiled in June.
“I’ve seen firsthand how floodwaters devastate American communities,” FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said in a version of the release issued for the agency’s mid-Atlantic region. “We are making it easier for people to reduce their financial risk and protect what they’ve spent their lives building. With this new digital tool, you can get a quote and buy a flood insurance policy in a matter of minutes. This innovation demonstrates how FEMA is working to cut bureaucracy and deliver results to the American people.”
Eighteen months from quote to purchase
The online purchase completes a project FEMA started in April 2025, when it launched a free direct-to-customer quoting tool. That version produced a property-specific quote but sent users to local and national carriers to actually buy the policy. At the time, FEMA said that over the following year customers would “have the option to purchase policies directly through the tool.” The purchase option arrived about six months later than that timeline.
The April 2025 release also laid out the gap the agency is trying to close. Fewer than 4% of U.S. households have flood insurance, FEMA said then, even though 99% of communities have experienced flooding, and on average 40% of NFIP claims come from outside high-hazard areas. At that time the program provided about $1.3 trillion of coverage to roughly 4.7 million policyholders. “Floods are the most common and costliest natural disaster in the United States,” the agency said in the Oct. 20 announcement.
Where the policies are concentrated
FEMA’s regional releases show how unevenly that coverage is spread. In the agency’s Region 6, according to the Denton, Texas, office:
- Texas has nearly $170 billion in NFIP coverage for approximately 553,000 policyholders.
- Louisiana has over $112 billion in coverage for approximately 393,000 policyholders.
- New Mexico, Arkansas and Oklahoma together account for roughly $7.7 billion and about 32,300 policyholders.
In New Jersey and New York, the program provides approximately $98 billion in coverage to about 354,000 policyholders, according to the agency’s Region 2 release. Washington, D.C., by contrast, has about 2,100 policyholders with roughly $578 million in coverage.
What the releases leave open
The announcements do not say whether policies bought online are written by FEMA directly or routed to the private “Write Your Own” insurers that also sell and service NFIP policies, and they do not mention any change to premiums. Coverage limits and the program’s standard waiting period before a new policy takes effect are also not addressed.
On our reading, the practical value is speed and price discovery. Even insured homeowners still carry 29% of expected losses, New York Fed researchers found this month, and in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state regulators to act as home premiums climbed 79% in six years. A quote that can be turned into a policy in minutes gives agents a figure to put in front of clients earlier in a transaction. More coverage of insurance and the for-sale market is in RealtyWire’s housing market section.
