Santa Clara County Flood Zone Statistics by City
All fifteen Santa Clara County cities participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, so flood insurance is available county-wide. Ten of them also participate in FEMA's Community Rating System, which can discount eligible NFIP policies throughout the community at a rate that depends on whether the property sits inside the Special Flood Hazard Area. Cupertino and Palo Alto earn the largest discount, 20% inside that area and 10% outside it. Five cities earn nothing. Santa Clara County itself is Class 10 and earns no discount.
Key Santa Clara County Flood Zone Statistics
FEMA NFIP Community Status Book- All 15 Santa Clara County cities participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. (FEMA NFIP)
- Ten Santa Clara County cities participate in the Community Rating System, which discounts flood insurance premiums. (FEMA NFIP)
- Cupertino and Palo Alto earn the county's largest discount at 20% inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 10% outside it, both at CRS Class 6. (FEMA NFIP)
- Eight Santa Clara County cities earn 15% inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 5% outside it, at Class 7. (FEMA NFIP)
- Five Santa Clara County cities do not participate in the Community Rating System and earn no discount. (FEMA NFIP)
- Santa Clara County itself is Class 10, so unincorporated areas earn no discount while ten of its cities do. (FEMA NFIP)
- Only 18.5% of California's 529 National Flood Insurance Program communities earn a Community Rating System discount. Santa Clara County runs at 62.5%. (Aegis calculation from FEMA NFIP data)
- No Santa Clara County city reaches the top California tier. Roseville is the state's only Class 1 community, earning 45% inside the Special Flood Hazard Area. (FEMA NFIP)
- Santa Clara County flood maps carry two effective dates: May 18, 2009 for eight cities and February 19, 2014 for seven. (FEMA NFIP)
- Three of the five highest-priced Santa Clara County cities earn no flood insurance discount at all. (FEMA NFIP, MLSListings Inc.)
Which Santa Clara County Cities Get a Flood Insurance Discount?
Ten of the fifteen. Cupertino and Palo Alto earn 20% inside the Special Flood Hazard Area at Class 6, and 10% outside it. Eight cities earn 15% inside and 5% outside at Class 7. Campbell, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga earn nothing.
| City | FEMA Community ID | NFIP status | CRS class | Discount inside SFHA | Discount outside SFHA | Effective FIRM | Median sale price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cupertino | 060339# | Participating | Class 6 | 20% | 10% | 05/18/09 | $3,055,000 |
| Palo Alto | 060348# | Participating | Class 6 | 20% | 10% | 05/18/09 | $3,510,000 |
| Gilroy | 060340# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 05/18/09 | $1,100,000 |
| Los Altos | 060341# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 05/18/09 | $4,515,000 |
| Milpitas | 060344# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 02/19/14 | $1,315,000 |
| Morgan Hill | 060346# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 05/18/09 | $1,350,000 |
| Mountain View | 060347# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 05/18/09 | $1,852,500 |
| San Jose | 060349# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 02/19/14 | $1,402,000 |
| Santa Clara | 060350# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 02/19/14 | $1,690,000 |
| Sunnyvale | 060352# | Participating | Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 05/18/09 | $1,865,000 |
| Campbell | 060338# | Participating | Not in CRS | None | None | 02/19/14 | $1,920,000 |
| Los Altos Hills | 060342# | Participating | Not in CRS | None | None | 05/18/09 | $5,475,000 |
| Los Gatos | 060343# | Participating | Not in CRS | None | None | 02/19/14 | $2,577,500 |
| Monte Sereno | 060345# | Participating | Not in CRS | None | None | 02/19/14 | $4,668,000 |
| Saratoga | 060351# | Participating | Not in CRS | None | None | 02/19/14 | $4,100,000 |
| Santa Clara County | 060337# | Participating | Class 10 | None | None | 02/19/14 | $1,648,944 |
Source: FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, California, report dated August 11, 2026, cross-checked against the California State Hazard Mitigation Plan Appendix P. Median sale price from MLSListings Inc. closed transactions, trailing twelve months. Discounts apply to NFIP policies within the community and are not an insurance quote.
What Is the Community Rating System?
A voluntary FEMA program that rewards communities whose floodplain management exceeds the minimum required by the National Flood Insurance Program. Classes run from 10, earning nothing, to 1, earning a 45% premium discount.
Participation is a choice each community makes. A city earns credit for activities such as mapping and regulation beyond the federal minimum, flood damage reduction work, public information programs, and warning and response planning. FEMA scores those activities and assigns a class. Inside the Special Flood Hazard Area every class improvement is worth five percentage points, running from 5% at Class 9 to 45% at Class 1. Outside the Special Flood Hazard Area the discount is flat: 10% for Classes 1 through 6 and 5% for Classes 7 through 9. Class 10 is not participating in the Community Rating System and earns nothing.
| CRS class | Discount inside SFHA | Discount outside SFHA | California communities | Share of 107 classified communities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | 45% | 10% | 1 | 0.9% |
| Class 2 | 40% | 10% | 1 | 0.9% |
| Class 4 | 30% | 10% | 1 | 0.9% |
| Class 5 | 25% | 10% | 4 | 3.7% |
| Class 6 | 20% | 10% | 19 | 17.8% |
| Class 7 | 15% | 5% | 33 | 30.8% |
| Class 8 | 10% | 5% | 24 | 22.4% |
| Class 9 | 5% | 5% | 15 | 14.0% |
| Class 10 | None | None | 9 | 8.4% |
| All classes | 107 | 100.0% |
Source: FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, California, August 11, 2026. Counted by Aegis Luxury Real Estate across all 529 participating California communities. Class 3 is unoccupied in California.
A Community Rating System discount is not property specific. It reduces the premium on every eligible NFIP policy written inside the participating community, including policies outside the Special Flood Hazard Area. The rate is not the same in both places. A Cupertino property inside the Special Flood Hazard Area receives 20% at Class 6, and a Cupertino property outside it receives 10%. In a Class 7 city the two rates are 15% and 5%. That is what makes the city-by-city difference worth knowing before a purchase rather than after.
How Does Santa Clara County Compare to California?
Santa Clara County is well above the state average. Only 18.5% of California's 529 National Flood Insurance Program communities earn a Community Rating System discount, 98 of 529. In Santa Clara County the figure is 62.5%, ten of sixteen. FEMA treats Class 10 as not participating in the Community Rating System, so the unincorporated county, at Class 10, is counted here as earning nothing. County participation runs 3.4 times the California average.
What Santa Clara County does not have is a top-tier community. The best class in the county is 6, earning 20 percent, held by Cupertino and Palo Alto. Nineteen California communities hold Class 6 or better, and the leaders sit well above that.
| Rank | Community | County | CRS class | Discount inside SFHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roseville | Placer County | Class 1 | 45% |
| 2 | Sacramento County | Sacramento County | Class 2 | 40% |
| 3 | Sacramento | Sacramento County | Class 4 | 30% |
| 4 | Orange County | Orange County | Class 5 | 25% |
| 5 | Placer County | Placer County | Class 5 | 25% |
| 6 | Tehama | Tehama County | Class 5 | 25% |
| 7 | Ventura County | Ventura County | Class 5 | 25% |
| Best in Santa Clara County | Cupertino, Palo Alto | Class 6 | 20% |
Source: FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, California, August 11, 2026. Ranked by CRS class across the 98 California communities earning a Community Rating System discount. Nine further communities carry Class 10 and earn nothing. Roseville is the only Class 1 community in California and one of a small number nationally.
Roseville, Sacramento County and the City of Sacramento occupy the top three positions in California. All three sit in the Sacramento Valley, where flooding is the dominant hazard and floodplain management has been a decades-long civic priority. Santa Clara County's dominant hazard is earthquake, which accounts for the largest share of its expected annual loss, and inland flooding is second. Communities invest in the program that matches the risk they actually face.
How Old Are Santa Clara County Flood Maps?
Santa Clara County carries two Flood Insurance Rate Map effective dates. Eight cities are on maps effective May 18, 2009, and seven are on maps effective February 19, 2014. The newest is twelve years old.
The effective FIRM date is the date the currently binding flood map took effect for that community. It governs which properties are in a Special Flood Hazard Area, which drives mandatory purchase requirements for federally backed mortgages. A map that has not been revised in over a decade does not, on its own, reflect development, channel changes, or updated hydrology since that date. An effective date is not proof that nothing has changed. FEMA can amend or revise a map after it takes effect through a Letter of Map Amendment or a Letter of Map Revision, and those changes are official revisions to the current map that do not move the panel effective date. For a specific property, check FEMA's current map products and any subsequent Letters of Map Change.
| City | Effective FIRM date | Years since revision | CRS class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cupertino | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 6 |
| Palo Alto | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 6 |
| Gilroy | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 7 |
| Los Altos | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 7 |
| Morgan Hill | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 7 |
| Mountain View | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 7 |
| Sunnyvale | 05/18/09 | 17 | Class 7 |
| Los Altos Hills | 05/18/09 | 17 | Not in CRS |
| Milpitas | 02/19/14 | 12 | Class 7 |
| San Jose | 02/19/14 | 12 | Class 7 |
| Santa Clara | 02/19/14 | 12 | Class 7 |
| Campbell | 02/19/14 | 12 | Not in CRS |
| Los Gatos | 02/19/14 | 12 | Not in CRS |
| Monte Sereno | 02/19/14 | 12 | Not in CRS |
| Saratoga | 02/19/14 | 12 | Not in CRS |
| Santa Clara County | 02/19/14 | 12 | Class 10 |
Source: FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, California, August 11, 2026. Years since revision computed by Aegis Luxury Real Estate against the report date. Current maps can be checked at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Do Expensive Cities Get Better Flood Discounts?
No, the opposite. Three of the five highest-priced Santa Clara County cities earn no flood insurance discount at all. Los Altos Hills at $5,475,000, Monte Sereno at $4,668,000 and Saratoga at $4,100,000 are not in the Community Rating System. Gilroy, at $1,100,000, earns 15% inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 5% outside it. Cupertino earns the county best discount at 20% on a median sale price of $3,055,000, while Los Altos Hills earns none at $5,475,000, a gap of $2,420,000.
The pattern is not an oversight and it is not unfairness. Community Rating System credit is earned largely through floodplain management activity, and a community with very little mapped floodplain has limited opportunity to earn it. Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Saratoga are foothill cities whose hazard exposure runs toward wildfire and seismic rather than flood. Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Jose sit on the valley floor with substantial mapped floodplain and a corresponding reason to manage it.
A buyer weighing Saratoga against Cupertino should expect the flood insurance line item to run higher in Saratoga on an equivalent policy, while the probability of needing that policy is lower. The reverse holds on the valley floor. Neither city is better or worse. They carry different hazards, and the insurance market prices each one separately. This is a question for a licensed insurance agent working from a specific address, not from a city median.
How These Santa Clara County Figures Are Calculated
Community status, Community Rating System class, class discount and effective Flood Insurance Rate Map date come from FEMA's NFIP Community Status Book for California. Median sale price comes from MLSListings Inc. closed transactions. Participation percentages, years since revision, and the price group comparisons are calculated by Aegis Luxury Real Estate from those two sources and are labelled as such wherever they appear.
| Element | Definition |
|---|---|
| Source | FEMA NFIP Community Status Book, California report |
| Report date | August 11, 2026 |
| Coverage | 534 California communities, 529 participating and 5 not |
| NFIP status | Whether the community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program |
| Participation rate | Communities in CRS Classes 1 through 9 divided by all National Flood Insurance Program communities. Class 10 is excluded because FEMA treats it as not participating. Calculated by Aegis Luxury Real Estate |
| CRS class | Community Rating System class, 1 to 10. A blank CRS column means the community does not participate in CRS. It does not mean the community is outside the NFIP. |
| Premium discount | As published by FEMA for the community's class. Two rates apply: inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and outside it |
| Effective FIRM | Date the currently binding Flood Insurance Rate Map took effect |
| Cross-check | California State Hazard Mitigation Plan, Appendix P |
| Not performed | No polygon intersection, no share-of-city-area calculation, no property-level flood zone determination |
No figure on this page originates from a commercial data aggregator or an automated flood scoring service. Flood program figures are read directly from the federal record that governs flood insurance availability in each community. Median sale price is read from the MLSListings Inc. feed. Participation percentages, years since revision and the price group comparisons are calculated by Aegis Luxury Real Estate from those two sources and are labelled as such wherever they appear.
Official Sources for Santa Clara County Flood Data
Every figure on this page can be checked at its origin. These are the primary agency records, not summaries of them.
Using these Santa Clara County figures
Journalists, researchers, students, and other sites are welcome to reproduce any statistic on this page. No permission is required. Please cite the page and link to the permanent URL so readers can check the figure against its source and see the current version.
Timothy Alston. "Santa Clara County Flood Zone Statistics by City." Aegis Luxury Real Estate, DRE# 01328224, updated August 11, 2026. https://aegishomesre.com/santa-clara-county-flood-zone-statistics/
https://aegishomesre.com/santa-clara-county-flood-zone-statistics/
This URL does not change. The page is updated in place rather than republished, so a link placed today continues to resolve to the current figures. For data questions, contact Timothy Alston at aegishomesre.com/contact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Santa Clara County cities get a flood insurance discount?
Ten of the fifteen. Cupertino and Palo Alto earn 20 percent inside the Special Flood Hazard Area and 10 percent outside it, at CRS Class 6. Gilroy, Los Altos, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale earn 15 percent inside and 5 percent outside, at Class 7. Campbell, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga do not participate in the Community Rating System and earn no discount.
Is flood insurance available everywhere in Santa Clara County?
Yes. All fifteen Santa Clara County cities and the county itself participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, so NFIP flood insurance can be written anywhere in the county. What differs between cities is the premium discount earned through the separate Community Rating System.
What is the Community Rating System?
A voluntary FEMA program that rewards communities whose floodplain management exceeds the National Flood Insurance Program minimum. Classes run from 10, not participating and earning nothing, to 1, earning 45 percent inside the Special Flood Hazard Area. Inside that area each class improvement is worth five percentage points. Outside it the discount is flat at 10 percent for Classes 1 through 6 and 5 percent for Classes 7 through 9.
Why do the most expensive Santa Clara County cities get no flood discount?
Because Community Rating System credit is earned largely through floodplain management activity, and a community with little mapped floodplain has limited opportunity to earn it. Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Saratoga are foothill cities whose hazard exposure runs toward wildfire and seismic rather than flood. Valley floor cities such as Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Jose have substantial mapped floodplain and a corresponding reason to manage it.
How does Santa Clara County compare to the rest of California?
Well above average on participation. Only 18.5 percent of California's 529 National Flood Insurance Program communities earn a Community Rating System discount, 98 of 529, against 62.5 percent in Santa Clara County, ten of sixteen. FEMA treats Class 10 as not participating in the Community Rating System, so the unincorporated county is counted as earning nothing. But no Santa Clara County community reaches the top tier. The best class in the county is 6, earning 20 percent inside the Special Flood Hazard Area, while Roseville in Placer County is California's only Class 1 community at 45 percent.
How old are Santa Clara County flood maps?
Santa Clara County carries two effective Flood Insurance Rate Map dates. Eight cities are on maps effective May 18, 2009, and seven on maps effective February 19, 2014. The newest is twelve years old as of August 2026. Current maps can be checked at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Timothy Alston
Timothy Alston is a licensed California real estate Broker serving all 15 cities of Santa Clara County. This reference page is maintained as part of an ongoing statistical series and is updated in place when its source data or methodology materially changes.