The Most Storm-Exposed Counties per Resident

Raw event counts favour big, densely populated counties: more people means more reports. Dividing recorded events by population turns that around and shows where severe weather is most concentrated relative to the number of people living there — mostly rural, high-plains and Gulf Coast counties.

Rank	County	Events per 10k residents	Events	Population
#1	Cherry County, Nebraska	2,661.0	1,463	5,498
#2	Sherman County, Kansas	2,475.2	1,450	5,858
#3	Beaver County, Oklahoma	2,038.6	1,025	5,028
#4	Kit Carson County, Colorado	1,885.2	1,324	7,023
#5	Valley County, Montana	1,658.5	1,247	7,519
#6	Sheridan County, Nebraska	1,635.4	820	5,014
#7	Russell County, Kansas	1,615.5	1,079	6,679
#8	Carson County, Texas	1,568.7	910	5,801
#9	Lincoln County, Colorado	1,547.7	859	5,550
#10	Yuma County, Colorado	1,538.2	1,535	9,979
#11	Gray County, Kansas	1,510.3	861	5,701
#12	Tillman County, Oklahoma	1,405.2	971	6,910
#13	Scott County, Kansas	1,362.6	685	5,027
#14	Harper County, Kansas	1,313.0	709	5,400
#15	Kiowa County, Oklahoma	1,277.6	1,071	8,383
#16	Custer County, Nebraska	1,257.8	1,323	10,518
#17	Pawnee County, Kansas	1,245.1	765	6,144
#18	Alfalfa County, Oklahoma	1,181.5	673	5,696
#19	Thomas County, Kansas	1,175.7	927	7,885
#20	Norton County, Kansas	1,170.0	627	5,359
#21	Ottawa County, Kansas	1,156.6	673	5,819
#22	Crook County, Wyoming	1,125.4	839	7,455
#23	Washington County, Kansas	1,111.5	615	5,533
#24	Pratt County, Kansas	1,095.7	1,000	9,127
#25	Custer County, South Dakota	1,095.4	974	8,892
#26	Ellsworth County, Kansas	1,077.0	685	6,360
#27	Kingman County, Kansas	1,066.0	766	7,186
#28	Tripp County, South Dakota	1,060.4	595	5,611
#29	Haskell County, Texas	1,058.8	574	5,421
#30	Clay County, Nebraska	1,022.1	623	6,095
#31	Cotton County, Oklahoma	1,000.9	549	5,485
#32	Mitchell County, Kansas	1,000.2	578	5,779
#33	Jefferson County, Oklahoma	994.4	535	5,380
#34	Dewey County, South Dakota	991.4	516	5,205
#35	Woodruff County, Arkansas	984.1	593	6,026
#36	Greer County, Oklahoma	982.0	539	5,489
#37	Hansford County, Texas	974.8	499	5,119
#38	Woods County, Oklahoma	959.7	825	8,596
#39	Spink County, South Dakota	956.7	595	6,219
#40	Hartley County, Texas	953.0	497	5,215
#41	Benson County, North Dakota	948.7	551	5,808
#42	Keith County, Nebraska	942.9	775	8,219
#43	Fall River County, South Dakota	932.8	677	7,258
#44	Greenwood County, Kansas	932.6	552	5,919
#45	Stevens County, Kansas	914.4	472	5,162
#46	Morris County, Kansas	904.5	483	5,340
#47	Floyd County, Texas	885.7	462	5,216
#48	Cheyenne County, Nebraska	881.1	840	9,533
#49	Holt County, Nebraska	877.1	886	10,102
#50	Cloud County, Kansas	847.4	754	8,898