Flood Risk Zones in Jacksonville, Florida

The flood maps in effect for the City of Jacksonville date from November 2, 2018, according to FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program record for community 120077 (FEMA Community Status Book).

Jacksonville's flood mapping goes back much further. FEMA's record lists an initial Flood Hazard Boundary Map dated January 31, 1975 and an initial Flood Insurance Rate Map dated December 1, 1977, the same date it gives for the city's entry into the regular program (FEMA). The record shows the city participating in the program, under no sanction, and was last refreshed on August 25, 2026.

The three beach cities share the 2018 date. FEMA lists the same November 2, 2018 effective map for Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach, while the town of Baldwin carries no special flood hazard area at all, marked NSFHA, with an initial rate map dated June 3, 2013 (FEMA Duval County records). Anyone comparing a pre-2018 survey or Elevation Certificate against today's Jacksonville map should check which map it was drawn under; the city can provide copies of some Elevation Certificates for structures built in the floodplain since 1992 (City of Jacksonville).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against FEMA's OpenFEMA community records for all five Duval County flood insurance communities, NOAA's Mayport sea level and tide flood data, the JaxReady flood mitigation page and two city floodplain pages.

Jacksonville holds Community Rating System class 6, effective May 1, 2010, worth a 20% flood insurance discount inside the special flood hazard area and 10% outside it, in FEMA's record (FEMA).

Atlantic Beach has the most recent rating date: its class 5 took effect on October 1, 2026, which puts it one class ahead of Jacksonville and the other two beach cities (FEMA Duval County records). The city's own floodplain page agrees with FEMA on Jacksonville, listing a current ranking of six (City of Jacksonville). FEMA's Jacksonville record also lists an original entry date of October 1, 1991 beside the class data (FEMA).

Sea level at the Mayport tide gauge has risen at 1.15 inches per decade, plus or minus 0.05, over a record running from May 1928 to December 2025 (NOAA sea level trends).

NOAA builds that Mayport record by combining station 8720218 with an earlier station, 8720220, for May 1928 to November 2000, adjusted by 2.211 meters (NOAA). NOAA's annual high tide flood counts for Mayport (Bar Pilots Dock) show minor flood days rising from 1 in 2010 and none from 2011 through 2014 to 8 in 2020 and 9 in 2023, followed by 3 in 2024 and 5 in 2025 (NOAA high tide flooding counts). The 2015 count of 6 minor days comes with 5 days of missing data.

Moderate flood days are rarer at Mayport: one each in 2016, 2017 and 2022, and NOAA lists no major flood day in any year since 2010 (NOAA). One caution for anyone bookmarking the source: NOAA's sea level trends web page says it will no longer be available after September 30, 2026, and points readers to a new integrated beta site, though it still loaded on October 18, 2026 (NOAA Tides and Currents).

Under the National Flood Insurance Program, a Jacksonville building is a repetitive loss property after two or more claims of more than $1,000 within any rolling 10-year period since 1978, JaxReady explains (JaxReady).

The same page gives a second way to qualify: two or more building claims that on average equal or exceed 25 percent of the property's market value. A severe repetitive loss property, in the NFIP definition, has received four or more separate claim payments of more than $5,000 each, counting building and contents, or two or more building payments whose total exceeds the current value of the property (JaxReady Flood Information).

The grant program uses slightly different wording, and JaxReady prints both versions. The Flood Mitigation Assistance definition of severe repetitive loss adds that the four claims must total more than $20,000, and measures the two-claim test against the market value of the insured structure (JaxReady). JaxReady adds that FEMA encourages states and communities to prioritize Flood Mitigation Assistance project applications that include severe repetitive loss properties.

Through the Flood Mitigation Assistance program, which the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 created and which funds elevation, acquisition, dry flood-proofing and similar work through the State of Florida, according to JaxReady (JaxReady).

JaxReady lists the eligible activities as property acquisition and structure demolition or relocation, structure elevation, dry flood-proofing, minor localized flood reduction projects, the flood portion of hazard mitigation planning, non-structural retrofitting of existing buildings and facilities, and management costs. Every project must show it is cost-effective. Each application also needs a letter of support from the county emergency management agency director, and the community must participate and be in good standing in the NFIP and have an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan, such as the Duval County Local Mitigation Strategy (JaxReady Flood Information).

Insurance timing is the other practical point. The city warns that NFIP coverage takes effect only after a 30-day waiting period, and advises owners not to wait for the next flood to buy insurance protection (City of Jacksonville). The city also asks residents to report dumping or debris in ditches and streams by calling 630-CITY, and lists WOKV at 690 AM and 104.5 FM and WJCT at 89.9 FM among the stations that broadcast Jacksonville flood warnings during the June to November hurricane season.

Jacksonville's plan is Resilient Jacksonville, a 50-year strategy for flood and heat risks that Mayor Donna Deegan and Chief Resilience Officer Anne Coglianese launched on October 13, 2023 (City of Jacksonville).

The city's announcement says the strategy holds 45 resilience actions, described as implementable policies, projects and programs, in its first chapter, and a second chapter that tailors and prioritizes those actions for conditions in different Jacksonville neighborhoods (City of Jacksonville announcement). It was presented at the opening session of the 2023 JEPB-UNF Environmental Symposium, and the Resilient Jacksonville guide at /florida/jacksonville/government/resilient-jacksonville/ covers the strategy itself.

Questions about a specific Jacksonville lot still go to the floodplain coordinator at (904) 255-8366 (City of Jacksonville floodplain management), and the safety hub at /florida/jacksonville/safety/ explains how to look up a property's flood zone.