Is Barry County, MO in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Barry County's flood hazard at the 79.4th percentile nationally — a middling flood hazard by national standards — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 4.8 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Barry County's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 0.8% of them do — 6 active policies against 771 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Barry County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Barry County compares nationally
Barry County sits at rank 679 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1300 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 35,618 people live in Barry County, Missouri, spread over 778.123 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Barry County
Across all of Barry County's 19,055 residential structures, 6 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Barry County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.