Bartholomew County, IN flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Bartholomew County sits at the 78th national percentile, 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 1.6 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 Bartholomew 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, 18.4% of them do — 273 active policies against 1,484 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.3% of all residential structures in Bartholomew County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Bartholomew County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Bartholomew County ranks 722 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 691 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Bartholomew County, Indiana covers 406.94 square miles and counts roughly 84,741 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Bartholomew County
388 of Bartholomew County's 30,060 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Bartholomew County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.