Central Florida Property Insurance Claims: County Report
Before anything else, check the clock. Florida law bars a property claim that was not reported in time, and the period is shorter than most people expect: check how much time is left on your claim.
How many property insurance claims were filed in Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties after the two hurricanes that did the most damage here — and how many of them closed without any payment at all. Every figure on this page is taken directly from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s own published catastrophe data.
The headline. Across the seven counties after Hurricane Irma, 74,608 of 249,552 claims — 29.9% — closed without payment. After Hurricane Ian, across the six of our counties OIR published, it was 51,151 of 139,157, or 36.8%.
Hurricane Irma (2017)
| County | Claims reported | Closed with payment | Closed without payment | Share closed without payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County | 25,259 | 17,429 | 7,607 | 30.1% |
| Orange County | 78,931 | 52,820 | 24,425 | 30.9% |
| Osceola County | 31,056 | 22,398 | 7,861 | 25.3% |
| Polk County | 54,127 | 38,686 | 14,860 | 27.5% |
| Seminole County | 27,035 | 17,165 | 9,349 | 34.6% |
| Sumter County | 4,467 | 2,623 | 1,825 | 40.9% |
| Volusia County | 28,677 | 19,650 | 8,681 | 30.3% |
| All 7 counties shown | 249,552 | 170,771 | 74,608 | 29.9% |
Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Catastrophe Reporting — Hurricane Irma (2017) county data, data as of 9 November 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
Hurricane Ian (2022)
| County | Claims reported | Closed with payment | Closed without payment | Share closed without payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County | 5,014 | 2,852 | 1,998 | 39.8% |
| Orange County | 37,064 | 20,398 | 15,013 | 40.5% |
| Osceola County | 12,918 | 7,316 | 4,890* | 37.9% |
| Polk County | 28,594 | 18,794 | 8,865 | 31.0% |
| Seminole County | 12,544 | 6,720 | 5,482 | 43.7% |
| Sumter County | Not published by OIR for this event | |||
| Volusia County | 43,023 | 26,905 | 14,903 | 34.6% |
| All 6 counties shown | 139,157 | 82,985 | 51,151 | 36.8% |
Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Hurricane Ian (2022) county data, data as of 4 March 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
Sumter County is not in OIR’s published Ian table. That table lists 20 named counties plus an “All Other Counties” aggregate, and Sumter falls into the aggregate. We have not estimated a figure for it.
* OIR’s published Osceola row does not add up: its four component columns total 12,948 against a stated 12,918 claims reported. The percentage OIR itself prints for that row (94.3%) is consistent with 12,948. We reproduce the figures exactly as published rather than correcting them.
Hurricane Milton (2024)
OIR has published statewide Milton figures but no county-level breakdown. Rather than estimate one, we have left it out. If a county table is published we will add it and change the update date at the foot of this page.
Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Catastrophe Reporting — Hurricane Milton (2024), data as of 9 December 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
What “closed without payment” does and does not mean
It does not mean all of those claims were wrongly denied. OIR’s own definition is a claim that was denied or where no payment was to be made to the policyholder. That will include losses that came in under the deductible, claims that were withdrawn, duplicates, and claims where the damage turned out not to be from the storm. Anyone telling you that every one of those was an injustice is selling something.
What it does mean is that a very large number of Central Florida households filed a claim after a hurricane and received nothing — and that the proportion was not the same everywhere. In the Irma data it ranged from 25.3% in Osceola to 40.9% in Sumter. In the Ian data it ranged from 31.0% in Polk to 43.7% in Seminole.
The part most people do not know: a claim closing without payment is not the end of the matter by itself. Florida sets separate deadlines for giving your insurer notice of a reopened or supplemental claim, and a separate and much longer one for court action. Which of them applies to you depends on your policy and your date of loss. That is worth one phone call rather than an assumption — 352-353-4556.
Two claims from this area, with the documents behind them
Public figures describe a population. These are two individual files, each backed by a carrier document, anonymised to county level:
- One Orange County hurricane claim: settled at $28,000.
- One Lake County windstorm claim: carrier paid $12,609.92.
Each is one claim, on one policy, with its own facts — neither is a prediction about yours, and nobody can tell you what yours is worth before looking at it.
Methodology
- Figures are transcribed from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s published catastrophe reporting tables for each named event. OIR collects them from insurers under a data call.
- Only the seven counties Public Loss Adjusters serves on site are shown.
- “Share closed without payment” is claims closed without payment divided by claims reported, for that county, in that event. No other arithmetic is performed.
- Every row was checked to confirm its component columns sum to the reported total. One row — Osceola in the Ian table — does not, in the source. It is reproduced as published and footnoted above.
- Where OIR does not publish a county figure, the table says so. Nothing is estimated, interpolated or extrapolated.
- These are catastrophe claims for named events. They are not all property claims, and they do not include non-catastrophe losses such as everyday water damage or fire.
Sources
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Catastrophe Reporting — Hurricane Irma (2017) county data, data as of 9 November 2020. https://floir.gov/tools-and-data/catastrophe-reporting — retrieved 21 September 2026.
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Hurricane Ian (2022) county data, data as of 4 March 2025. https://floir.gov/home/ian — retrieved 21 September 2026.
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Catastrophe Reporting — Hurricane Milton (2024), data as of 9 December 2025. https://floir.gov/tools-and-data/catastrophe-reporting — retrieved 21 September 2026.
If you are quoting this page, please cite the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation as the source of the claims figures.
Talk to someone about your own claim
Robert Mack is a licensed Florida public adjuster (Lic. #A161638) working on site across these seven counties. The review is free and carries no obligation.
Published 21 September 2026. Last updated 21 September 2026. This page is educational, is not legal advice, and is not a guarantee of coverage or payment.