The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) was implemented in 1990 as a voluntary program for recognizing and encouraging community floodplain management activities that exceed minimum NFIP standards. Any community fully compliant with NFIP floodplain management requirements may apply to join the CRS.
The CRS has 1,520 communities throughout the United States that participate in the program by implementing local mitigation, floodplain management, and outreach activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. These CRS communities have over 3.6 million policyholders, accounting for more than 70% of all NFIP flood insurance policies.
Under the CRS, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reward community actions that meet the three goals of the CRS: (1) reduce flood damage to insurable property; (2) strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP; and (3) encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.
The CRS uses a Class rating system that is similar to fire insurance rating to determine flood insurance premium reductions for residents. CRS Classes are rated from 9 to 1. Today, most communities enter the program at a CRS Class 9 or Class 8 rating, which entitles residents in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) to a 5% discount on their flood insurance premiums for a Class 9 or a 10% discount for Class 8. As a community engages in additional mitigation activities, its residents become eligible for increased NFIP policy premium discounts. Each CRS Class improvement produces a 5% greater discount on flood insurance premiums for properties in the SFHA.
CRS Class changes occur on April 1 and October 1 of each year. The data contained in this fact sheet were current through April 2021. A list of CRS communities is available on the CRS page of the FEMA website.
A community accrues points to improve its CRS Class rating and receive increasingly higher discounts. Points are awarded for engaging in any of 19 creditable activities, organized under four categories: (1) Public Information, (2) Mapping and Regulations, (3) Flood Damage Reduction, and (4) Warning and Response.
Table 1. Overview of activities credited under the CRS.
Formulas and adjustment factors are used to calculate credit points for each activity. There are several CRS program requirements for all communities. All CRS program requirements and credit opportunities can be found in the CRS Coordinator’s Manual and the 2021 Addendum to the CRS Coordinator’s Manual, available on the CRS page of the FEMA website.
Lower-cost flood insurance rates are only one of the rewards a community receives from participating in the CRS. Here are some other benefits:
CRS Specialists are available to assist community officials in applying to the program and in designing, implementing, and documenting the activities that earn even greater premium discounts. A week-long CRS course for local officials is offered free at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) on the National Emergency Training Center campus in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and can be field deployed in interested states. A series of webinars is offered throughout the year.
To apply for CRS participation, a community must initially inform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Regional Office of its interest in applying to the CRS and will eventually submit a CRS application, along with documentation that shows it is implementing the activities for which credit is requested. The application is submitted to the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO)/CRS Specialist. ISO works on behalf of FEMA and insurance companies to review CRS applications, verify communities’ credit points, and perform program improvement tasks.
A community’s activities and performance are reviewed during a verification visit. FEMA establishes the credit to be granted and notifies the community, the State, insurance companies, and other appropriate parties.
Each year, the community must verify that it is continuing to perform the activities that are being credited by the CRS by submitting an annual recertification. In addition, a community can continue to improve its CRS Class rating by undertaking new mitigation and floodplain management activities that earn even more points.
A list of resources is available at the CRS page of the FEMA website. For more information about the CRS, email the Community Rating System team at fema-crs@fema.dhs.gov.
