Fort Lauderdale, FL

In April 2023, Fort Lauderdale received more than 25 inches of rain in roughly 24 hours—flooding roads, neighborhoods, and airport operations simultaneously. That event did not create the city's flood problem. It revealed one that drainage infrastructure had been managing at the margins for years. Fort Lauderdale's flood score of 94 sits at the 98th national percentile; its hurricane score of 95 reaches the 99th. Both metrics reflect the same underlying reality: a low-lying, canal-threaded coastal market with limited topographic buffer. Our read: the canal-to-street gradient matters more here than neighborhood brand. A Las Olas property and an inland Coral Ridge property priced within 20 percent of each other can underwrite very differently—canal-front flood assumptions change the base, wind exposure changes the windstorm deductible, and condo reserve reviews can shift total carrying cost more than either. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea inventory consistently faces the tightest wind and flood pricing in the metro. Hurricane Irma in 2017 reinforced what older neighborhoods already knew about wind vulnerability and infrastructure outage duration. Condo association reserves deserve as much diligence as the insurance premium itself—especially for coastal buildings where deferred maintenance and underfunded reserves create compounding exposure after a named storm. Annual premiums range from $3,800 to $9,000. Flood insurance is not optional in most cases; it is a required line in the carrying-cost model. Heat at the 85th national percentile adds cooling loads that buyers underestimate when headline attention stays on wind season. Fort Lauderdale's risk profile is a drainage, wind, and reserve story told in parallel—not a single hazard with clean edges.

— Open Data Collective