BLM Protest Damage: Insured Losses, Deaths, and City Breakdown

The Black Lives Matter protests that followed George Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020, caused an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion in insured property damage and at least 25 deaths, making the episode the most expensive civil disorder in U.S. insurance history. Destruction hit more than 140 cities in 20 states over roughly two weeks, with the sharpest concentrations in Minneapolis, Chicago, Kenosha, Portland, and Seattle. Five years on, some of the hardest-hit corridors are still rebuilding.

How Much of the Protest Activity Turned Destructive

The scale was unprecedented. Between May 25 and the end of August 2020, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) documented more than 7,750 BLM-linked demonstrations across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.¹ A separate Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) survey of 68 large police agencies logged 8,700 protest events from late May through July.²

ACLED found that more than 93% of those demonstrations were peaceful.³ Fewer than 220 locations saw violent demonstrations, compared with more than 2,400 that stayed peaceful. The MCCA put the violent share at about 7%, or 574 of the 8,700 events it tracked. But the raw count of events meant that a small percentage still translated into hundreds of incidents: 62% of the MCCA’s participating agencies reported at least one looting incident (2,385 total) and 56% reported arson (624 total).²

Total Insured Property Losses

Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics unit that has tracked civil disorder claims since 1950, designated the 2020 unrest a “multi-state catastrophe event,” the first civil disorder ever given that classification.⁴ Initial estimates ran from $1 billion to $2 billion. By early 2021, PCS reported losses exceeding $2 billion, with the figure still subject to increase.⁵

The prior record belonged to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which produced about $775 million in insured losses, or roughly $1.4 billion in 2020 dollars.⁶ From 1950 through 2019, only 12 civil disorder catastrophe events had been recorded, averaging about $90 million each.⁵ The 2020 total dwarfed that baseline, though it stayed below the year’s major natural disasters, such as Hurricane Isaias at $3 billion to $5 billion.⁴

Losses were also lopsided. About one-third of the insured cost came from just three large national retailers, a concentration that pushed underwriters to reassess the “aggregation risk” of chains with many locations across many states.⁶

City-by-City Damage

Minneapolis and St. Paul

The Twin Cities took the most concentrated hit. The two cities inventoried 1,295 addresses damaged by looting, vandalism, or arson, with 65 properties classified as destroyed: 48 in Minneapolis and 17 in St. Paul.⁷ Total rebuilding cost has been estimated at roughly $500 million. Along the Lake Street corridor in South Minneapolis, more than 500 businesses sustained over $250 million in damage.⁸ The Minneapolis assessor later reassessed 988 properties, cutting their combined value by $42 million and trimming associated tax bills by more than $1 million.⁹

Chicago

A Chicago Tribune investigation identified more than 2,100 businesses damaged or ransacked between May 29 and June 4, 2020. For the 710 businesses whose losses could be documented, damage totaled more than $165 million, and the paper noted this was an undercount.¹⁰ Even that partial figure exceeded the inflation-adjusted $77 million in losses from the 1968 Chicago riots. Seventy-one buildings were set on fire, 157 people were charged with felonies related to the unrest, and 15 people were killed in incidents tied to the violence during that window.

Kenosha

Unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, erupted in late August 2020 after police shot Jacob Blake. More than 100 buildings were damaged and at least 40 destroyed. The Kenosha Area Business Alliance estimated total losses across businesses, public buildings, and infrastructure at up to $50 million.¹¹ Damage to city-owned property alone came to nearly $2 million.¹² Destruction was concentrated downtown and along the 22nd Avenue commercial strip in Uptown, where a used car dealership, a furniture store, and the more than 100-year-old Danish Brotherhood Lodge burned to the ground.¹³ More than 35 small businesses were destroyed and about 80 damaged; almost all were locally owned, and many were underinsured.¹⁴

Portland

Portland saw the longest-running protests, with nightly demonstrations at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse continuing for months. As of early 2021, cleaning and repairing five federal properties in Portland had cost $2.3 million, with damage that included extensive graffiti, shattered windows, vandalized security cameras, and fireworks thrown into buildings.¹⁵ Roughly one-third of the more than 300 federal criminal cases stemming from the 2020 protests nationwide were concentrated in Portland.¹⁶

Seattle

In Seattle, the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), also known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), formed after police vacated their East Precinct on June 8, 2020. The occupation lasted several weeks. Sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. was killed within the zone.¹⁷ Local property owners sued the City of Seattle, alleging the city facilitated the occupation and blocked access to their properties. One suit brought by Hunters Capital LLC resulted in a $3.6 million settlement, which included $600,000 tied to the city’s destruction of evidence.¹⁸ A separate suit by other affected businesses was dismissed by a lower court and was under appeal before the Ninth Circuit as of late 2025.¹⁹

Deaths During the Unrest

ACLED reported that at least 25 Americans were killed during the protests and related unrest in 2020: 11 while participating in demonstrations and 14 in other linked incidents.¹⁷ The dead crossed the political spectrum and every side of the conflict:

David Dorn, a retired St. Louis police captain, was killed during the robbery of a pawn shop.
Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber were shot in Kenosha by Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old who said he had come to protect property.
David McAtee, a Louisville restaurant owner, was shot by the National Guard.
Secoriea Turner, an eight-year-old girl, was shot to death in Atlanta.
Summer Taylor, a protester, was killed in Seattle when a car drove into a crowd of demonstrators.
Aaron Danielson, a far-right supporter, was shot in Portland; his suspected killer, Michael Reinoehl, was later killed by law enforcement.

In Chicago alone, 15 people were killed and at least 53 wounded in incidents connected to the unrest between May 29 and June 4.¹⁰

Law enforcement injuries were substantial as well. More than 2,000 officers were injured in the first weeks of the unrest, according to the MCCA, with 72% of participating agencies reporting officer injuries.² One agency counted 462 officers injured in its jurisdiction; another reported 50 hurt in a single week. In Portland, 277 officers were injured defending the federal courthouse, and 60 Secret Service officers were injured at the White House.²⁰

Uneven Impact on Small and Minority-Owned Businesses

The industry-wide loss figures hid an uneven distribution. Large chains such as Walmart and Best Buy carried extensive insurance; many smaller operations in lower-income commercial districts were underinsured or uninsured.¹⁴ In Kenosha, some owners saw claims denied under policy exemptions for “acts of terrorism,” and others received initial settlement offers as low as $5,000 for buildings that had burned down.¹³

Destruction from protests against racial injustice fell heavily on Black-owned businesses. In Minneapolis, Chris Montana, owner of the Du Nord distillery, reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage after his building was broken into, set on fire, and looted; neighboring businesses in the same block were “100% gone.”²¹ Research on the 1968 riots found that affected neighborhoods experienced lower incomes, higher poverty rates, and reduced educational attainment 20 to 30 years later, which framed the long-term stakes of the 2020 rebuild.

Where Rebuilding Stands

Recovery remains uneven. In Minneapolis, nearly half of the 48 properties classified as destroyed still sit as empty lots. In St. Paul, seven of the 17 destroyed properties remain vacant.⁷ The obstacles stack: insufficient insurance payouts, rising construction costs, city zoning that requires new buildings along major corridors to be at least two stories, and a permitting process small owners describe as cumbersome. Many owners never planned to be real estate developers, and the capital needed for a multi-story project exceeded what they could assemble.

Aid did flow. The Lake Street Council raised $12 million and distributed grants to hundreds of businesses; the Minneapolis Foundation raised $14 million; millions more came from state and local government. The city waived administrative fees for more than 1,800 cleanup and rebuilding applications and appropriated $2 million for rubble removal.⁹ Business owners say the aid fell short of the total need. In 2024, Minneapolis raised fines for vacant and condemned buildings to discourage prolonged vacancy, and some projects have moved forward, including the reopening of the historic Coliseum Building on Lake Street. Along the corridor overall, most businesses have reopened, and new tenants have filled many of the vacancies.⁸

In Kenosha, the most visible rebuild is Uptown Lofts, a mixed-use development with 71 workforce housing apartments, commercial space, and a new public library branch. Two businesses destroyed in the 2020 fires, La Estrella grocery store and Uptown Restaurant, are part of the project, which began receiving tenants in late 2023.²² The city launched additional facade and business recruitment grants for the Uptown area in 2026, funded in part by state economic development dollars.²³

Federal disaster aid did not fill the gap. Civil unrest has almost never qualified for a major disaster declaration under the Stafford Act; the only approval for civil disorder came in 1992 for the Los Angeles riots, and all subsequent requests have been denied, in part because damages from unrest generally do not meet the act’s per-capita cost thresholds.²⁴ Cities and businesses were directed instead to the Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan Program, Economic Development Administration grants, and HUD Community Development Block Grants, all of which offer narrower assistance than a Stafford Act declaration.

1
ACLED. Demonstrations and Political Violence in America: New Data for Summer 2020
2
Major Cities Chiefs Association. Report on the 2020 Protests and Civil Unrest
3
Time. Report Finds 93% of Black Lives Matter Protests Were Peaceful
4
Axios. Exclusive: $1 Billion-Plus Riot Damage Is Most Expensive in Insurance History
5
World Economic Forum. 2020 Protests Changed Insurance Forever
6
AM Best. George Floyd Riots Insured Losses
7
MPR News. Vacant Lots Dot Minneapolis 5 Years After Floyd Protests
8
Audacy. Lake Street Businesses Rebuild After George Floyd Riots
9
City of Minneapolis. Unrest Recovery Timeline 2020
10
Chicago Tribune. Chicago’s 2020 Unrest: A Tribune Investigation Documents the Scope of the Damage
11
ABC7 Chicago. More Than 100 Buildings Damaged, at Least 40 Destroyed in Kenosha Unrest
12
WBAY. Kenosha Damage Estimated at $2 Million to City Property
13
NPR. Kenosha Protests, Violence Expose Racial Disparities Among the Worst in the Country
14
The New York Times. Small Business Insurance Unrest Kenosha
15
OregonLive. Price Tag So Far for Protest-Related Damage to Federal Buildings in Portland: $2.3 Million
16
PBS NewsHour. 300 and Counting: Push by Feds to Make Arrests at U.S. Protests
17
The Guardian. Americans Killed During Protests and Political Unrest
18
The Hill. Seattle Pays the Price for CHAZ
19
Courthouse News. Businesses Claim Seattle Created Danger During 2020 Protest Zone
20
U.S. Senate. Grassley: Let’s End the War on Cops
21
NPR. Riots That Followed Anti-Racism Protests Come at Great Cost to Black-Owned Businesses
22
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Celebrating Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Kenosha’s Uptown
23
City of Kenosha. Uptown Area Grant Programs
24
Congressional Research Service. Stafford Act Assistance and Acts of Terrorism