NFIP Community Rating System (CRS)

NFIP Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes communities for implementing floodplain management practices that exceed the Federal minimum requirements of the NFIP to provide flood protection. Goals of the CRS are to reduce flood damage to insurable property, strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the NFIP and encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management. FEMA developed the CRS to provide incentives in the form of premium discounts for communities to go beyond the minimum floodplain management requirements to develop extra measures to provide protection from flooding.

Once a community applies to the appropriate FEMA region for the CRS program and FEMA verifies its implementation, FEMA sets the CRS classification based upon credit points. This classification determines the premium discount for policyholders in the participating community. There are 10 CRS classes: Class 1 requires the most credit points and gives the greatest premium discount; Class 10 identifies communities that do not participate in the CRS or have not earned the minimum required credit points and receive no premium discount. As recognition of the floodplain management activities instituted in a community, eligible policies written in a community receive premium discounts ranging from five percent (Class 9) to a maximum of 45 percent (Class 1).

FEMA recognizes 19 activities as measures for eliminating exposure to floods and assigns credit points to each activity. The activities fall into four main categories: Public Information, Mapping and Regulation, Flood Damage Reduction and Warning and Response.