Benton County, AR: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Benton County scores at the 90.4th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate" — a middling flood hazard by national standards. The hazard here is driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 2.5 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Benton County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Benton 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, 24% of them do — 280 active policies against 1,165 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Benton County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Benton County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Benton County ranks 318 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 232 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Benton County, Arkansas is home to about 321,566 people across 847.74 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Benton County's average
439 of Benton County's 102,138 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Benton 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.