Flood insurance for mobile homes: What you need to know

A standard mobile home insurance policy won't cover flood damage, so mobile or modular homeowners in areas prone to flooding will want to consider getting flood insurance coverage.

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Pat HowardManaging Editor & Licensed Home Insurance ExpertPat Howard is a managing editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where he specializes in homeowners insurance. His work and expertise has been featured in MarketWatch, Real Simple, Fox Business, VentureBeat, This Old House, Investopedia, Fatherly, Lifehacker, Better Homes & Garden, Property Casualty 360, and elsewhere.&Kara McGinleySenior Editor & Licensed Home Insurance ExpertKara McGinley is a former senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she specialized in homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Forbes Advisor, Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.

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While a typical mobile home insurance policy will protect your home and personal belongings if they're damaged by a covered peril, such as wind or lightning, this coverage generally doesn't extend to water damage caused by flooding. This makes additional flood insurance for your mobile home an important consideration if you live in an area susceptible to flooding or coastal storm surge.

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A typical flood insurance policy when purchased for a manufactured home costs an average of $750 annually, according to our analysis of 2023 federal flood insurance rate data from the National Flood Insurance Program. However, mobile homeowners may be able to find a cheaper option by shopping around with insurers who write specialized flood insurance coverage for manufactured homes.

Key takeaways

  • A standard HO-7 mobile home insurance policy doesn't cover flood damage, but many insurers offer flood insurance coverage as a separate policy or as an optional add-on to your home insurance.

  • If you live in a high-risk flood area and have a mortgage, your lender will likely require you to get flood insurance.

  • There are two main types of flood insurance for mobile homes: a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy through the federal government, or a private flood insurance policy through a private insurer.

Can you get flood insurance on a mobile home?

Most standard manufactured home insurance policies won't cover water damage caused by natural flooding. This means if your mobile home's structure and possessions inside incur water damage during a flood event, like hurricane storm surge or a flash flood due to heavy rainfall, you'll have to pay for property replacement or repair costs out of pocket.

Fortunately, these costs are covered if you have additional flood insurance coverage — an important consideration for any mobile or modular homeowner in a high-risk flood zone or flood-prone area of Florida, Texas, and other coastal states with a high number of manufactured homes.

Where can I buy flood insurance for a mobile home?

While availability to mobile home flood insurance options can vary depending on where you live, you can generally purchase coverage from one of two sources: the NFIP, which offers policies that are financially backed by the federal government, or a private flood insurance provider, which offers policies that are backed by private insurers.

NFIP

Private flood insurance

Maximum home rebuild limit

$250,000

Typically up to $500,000 or higher

Availability

Participating communities in all 50 states

May be limited in higher-risk areas

Waiting period

30 days

As little as two weeks

Accepted by mortgage lenders

Yes

Yes

Replacement cost building coverage

Yes

Yes

Replacement cost contents coverage

No

Yes

Loss of use coverage

No

Yes

Loss avoidance coverage (sandbags, etc)

No

Yes

Debris removal coverage

Yes

Yes

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The National Flood Insurance Program, which is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), offers flood insurance policies in all 50 states to mobile homeowners in NFIP participating communities — to which most residential localities in the U.S. belong. While flood insurance with the NFIP is widely available and generally easy to get approved for, policies come with a 30-day waiting period before coverage takes effect, and policies come with a number of exclusions and other coverage limitations.

Conversely, private flood insurance policies often have no waiting period at all, more robust coverage for personal belongings, and higher deductible policy options to keep rates low. However, private market flood insurance is still relatively new and not as common in most areas as the NFIP plan.

Learn more >> NFIP vs. private flood insurance

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Mobile home flood insurance coverage

A standard NFIP policy will cover the costs if your mobile home's structure or personal belongings inside the residence are damaged by flooding. You have the option of purchasing one of these coverages or both on a combined policy.

Here's how each of these coverages works:

  1. Building coverage: Reimburses you for repairs or a new mobile home if the structure of the residence is damaged by flooding. As noted in the table above, the NFIP offers up to $250,000 in building coverage, while private flood insurance policies offer significantly higher maximum limits.

  2. Contents coverage: Covers the cost of repairing or replacing your personal belongings if they're damaged by flooding. The NFIP plan offers up to $100,000 in coverage for your belongings (on a depreciated actual cash value basis), while private flood policies generally have higher maximum personal property coverage limits — and often give you the option of upgrading from actual cash value to replacement cost value claim reimbursements.

Learn more >> What does flood insurance cover?

How much does mobile home flood insurance cost? 

The average cost of NFIP flood insurance on a manufactured home is roughly $750 per year, according to our 2023 analysis of FEMA flood insurance policy data. Your flood insurance premiums are generally based on the location and elevation of your mobile home, the cost to rebuild, your out-of-pocket deductible amount (higher equals cheaper rates), and other factors.

Here's the average annual cost of mobile and manufactured home flood insurance in 47 U.S. states, according to our analysis.

State

Average annual cost

Alaska

$335

Alabama

$751

Arkansas

$531

Arizona

$996

California

$854

Colorado

$865

Delaware

$1,166

Florida

$838

Georgia

$715

Iowa

$654

Idaho

$892

Illinois

$600

Indiana

$904

Kansas

$543

Kentucky

$683

Louisiana

$697

Massachusetts

$453

Maryland

$786

Maine

$925

Michigan

$1,231

Minnesota

$847

Missouri

$613

Mississippi

$590

Montana

$744

North Carolina

$657

North Dakota

$486

Nebraska

$784

New Hampshire

$854

New Jersey

$1,057

New Mexico

$1,143

Nevada

$741

New York

$643

Ohio

$645

Oklahoma

$708

Oregon

$837

Pennsylvania

$1,261

South Carolina

$779

South Dakota

$607

Tennessee

$675

Texas

$703

Utah

$398

Virginia

$974

Vermont

$459

Washington

$1,018

Wisconsin

$350

West Virginia

$695

Wyoming

$518

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Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency policy data for 2022 and 2023

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Mobile home flood insurance requirements

If your mobile home is located in a high-risk flood zone and you have a mortgage through a federally-regulated lender, you'll likely be required to purchase flood insurance in addition to regular homeowners insurance.

If you don't have a mortgage or your loan is through a private lender, you're not required by law to purchase flood insurance, but you may want to consider doing so anyway.

25% of flood insurance claims are for homes in low-to-moderate risk areas, FEMA reports

Flood damage is expensive — just one inch of water can cause as much as $25,000 in damages. Homeowners in moderate- to low-risk flood zones, might be eligible for a low-cost Preferred Risk Policy through the NFIP. Preferred risk policies are significantly cheaper than high-risk flood zone policies, with prices starting at $100 per year.

What type of mobile homes are eligible for flood insurance?

Before you can get flood insurance for your mobile home or tractor trailer, the home must meet the following criteria, according to the NFIP. [1]

  • The mobile home must be built on a permanent frame and attached to a permanent foundation.

  • A tractor trailer is only covered if it has its wheels removed, is built on a frame, and is attached to a permanent foundation.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I get flood insurance on a mobile home in Florida?

If you own a modular or manufactured home in Florida, you can purchase flood insurance coverage as a separate policy through the NFIP or a private market provider, or by additional a flood insurance endorsement to your home insurance (if offered by your insurer).

What is the average cost of mobile home flood insurance in Florida?

The average cost of flood insurance on mobile homes in Florida is $838 per year, according to our analysis of FEMA flood insurance policy premiums for 2022 and 2023. This is around 12% higher than the national average mobile home flood insurance rate, but about 35% cheaper than the average in Pennsylvania — the state with the country's most expensive mobile home insurance, according to our analysis.

References

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Policygenius uses external sources, including government data, industry studies, and reputable news organizations to supplement proprietary marketplace data and internal expertise. Learn more about how we use and vet external sources as part of oureditorial standards.

  1. FEMA

    . "

    Manufactured (Mobile) Home

    ." Accessed December 20, 2021.

Authors

Pat Howard is a managing editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where he specializes in homeowners insurance. His work and expertise has been featured in MarketWatch, Real Simple, Fox Business, VentureBeat, This Old House, Investopedia, Fatherly, Lifehacker, Better Homes & Garden, Property Casualty 360, and elsewhere.

Kara McGinley is a former senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she specialized in homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Forbes Advisor, Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.

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