OpenFEMA API: what it returns, and whether it works in Clay
OpenFEMA API is not available in Clay. It is best for Buying signals, Lead lists, Diligence. Pricing: Free. Access: Free, no key, published API with no listed fees. Licence: US government open data; FEMA asks for attribution and notes it does not endorse uses. Record level for public agencies; household data is aggregated or redacted..
Data domains: Government, Geography, Signals, Real estate.
What does OpenFEMA API return?
Official fields (DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2, read from a live API response): femaDeclarationString; disasterNumber; state; declarationType; declarationDate; fyDeclared; incidentType; declarationTitle; ihProgramDeclared; iaProgramDeclared; paProgramDeclared; hmProgramDeclared; incidentBeginDate; incidentEndDate; disasterCloseoutDate; tribalRequest; fipsStateCode; fipsCountyCode; placeCode; designatedArea; declarationRequestNumber; declarationRequestDate; lastIAFilingDate; incidentId; region; designatedIncidentTypes; lastRefresh; hash; id. Latest record at check: declared 2026-10-09.
What can you derive from it?
1. New county declaration: a county added to a major disaster declaration, which unlocks federal Individual and Public Assistance money for rebuild work. 2. Public Assistance project pipeline: obligated dollars by applicant (cities, school districts, utilities) and damage category, which names who is paying for repairs. 3. Housing damage intensity: Individual Assistance inspections and verified loss by ZIP or county. 4. Flood claim density: NFIP claims by county and year for water damage and restoration demand. 5. Mitigation grants: hazard mitigation projects (elevation, generators, drainage) as future construction work.
How would a GTM team use it?
1. Revenue trigger: poll declarations daily and alert a restoration or roofing portco when one of its counties is designated, with IA and PA flags. 2. Lead lists: list Public Assistance applicants with large obligated amounts for permanent work as targets for contractors and engineering firms. 3. PE screen: rank counties by ten years of declarations and NFIP claims to find resilient-demand markets for a restoration platform. 4. Diligence: tie a target's revenue history to disaster numbers in its footprint. 5. Content demo: map where federal rebuild money from a named hurricane actually went.
What are the caveats?
Not a native Clay integration as of 2026-10-17 (checked against Clay's integrations catalog). Can be called through Clay's HTTP API column where an API exists. Declarations lag the event by days to weeks and counties are added in amendments, so poll for updates. Public Assistance data names government applicants, not the contractors they hire. Individual Assistance data is aggregated to protect households. Some datasets are large; page with $skip and $top. Dataset versions change (v1 to v2), so pin the version in code.