Public API

Climate Risk API

Free, rate-limited endpoint returning live climate risk scores for any US ZIP code. Data sourced from Risk Before Buy — powered by FEMA, NOAA, USGS, USDA, and EPA datasets.

Endpoint

GET/api/v1/risk

Query Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
zip	string	required	5-digit US ZIP code (e.g. 28801, 90012, 33101)

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
zip	string	The queried ZIP code
overallRisk	string	Aggregate risk band: minimal, low, moderate, high, or extreme
estimatedPremium	{ min, max } \| null	Estimated annual homeowners insurance premium range in USD
premiumStrain	string	Premium-to-income pressure band: low, moderate, elevated, high, or severe
marketPressure	string	State insurance market health: low, moderate, high, or severe

Code Examples

cURL

curl "https://www.riskbeforebuy.com/api/v1/risk?zip=28801"

JavaScript (Fetch API)

const res = await fetch("https://www.riskbeforebuy.com/api/v1/risk?zip=28801");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://www.riskbeforebuy.com/api/v1/risk", params={"zip": "28801"})
data = res.json()
print(data)

Example Response

200 OK — JSON

{
  "zip": "28801",
  "overallRisk": "moderate",
  "estimatedPremium": { "min": 1200, "max": 1800 },
  "premiumStrain": "elevated",
  "marketPressure": "moderate"
}

Error Responses

400 — Invalid or missing ZIP code

400 Bad Request

{ "error": "Invalid or missing ZIP code. Must be a 5-digit string (e.g. 28801)." }

404 — ZIP not in database

404 Not Found

{
  "error": "ZIP code not found in our database."
}

429 — Rate limit exceeded

429 Too Many Requests

{ "error": "Rate limit exceeded. Max 5 requests per minute." }

Rate Limiting

5 requests per minute per IP address. Rate limit headers are included in every response:

X-RateLimit-Limit — maximum requests allowed in the window
X-RateLimit-Remaining — requests remaining in the current window
Retry-After — seconds until the rate limit resets (only on 429)

Caching

Responses include Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400. ZIP-level risk data is refreshed at most once per 24 hours. Safe to cache client-side.

Data Sources

All risk scores are derived from public federal datasets. No synthetic or estimated data.

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) — flood, hurricane, wildfire, earthquake
NOAA Storm Events Database — historical severe weather claims
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program — seismic risk
USDA Forest Service — wildfire probability
EPA — climate exposure overlays

This API is provided as-is for integration purposes. Not insurance, financial, or legal advice. See Methodology for scoring details.