Flood susceptibility in Himachal Pradesh of northern India is a significant concern due to its hilly terrain and abundant water resources. The region is susceptible to both flash floods caused by heavy rainfall and riverine floods triggered by the overflowing of rivers and streams during the monsoon season. Accurate flood susceptibility assessments play a crucial role in effective disaster preparedness and response, enabling targeted resource allocation and risk reduction measures. Thus, the present study is an attempt to estimate the flood susceptibility in the Upper Beas basin using Geographic Information System (GIS)-analytic hierarchy process (AHP) multi-criteria analysis. The study used slope, elevation, drainage density, topographic wetness index, distance from the river, rainfall, leaf area index, soils, and land use/land cover data for the analysis. The findings are validated using ground survey data. The results indicate that nearly 0.03% of the basin’s total area falls under the zone of very high susceptibility, 1.31% area has high susceptibility, and 15.05% area is moderately susceptible to flood. Villages of Rote, Diar, Bajaura (Bhuntar), Nagwain, Aut, Hanogi, Panarsa (Aut), Bhalan (Sainj), Panjai, Nagdhar (Balichauki), etc., are in the very high susceptibility zone 1 and need more attention in planning. The results of the present study would be helpful to decision-makers in reducing the flood hazard risk in the basin.