Benton County, OR flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Benton County sits at the 74.8th 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 once every 1 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
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, 22.8% of them do — 453 active policies against 1,984 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 2% 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 826 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 627 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 98,899 people live in Benton County, Oregon, spread over 675.208 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Benton County
FEMA counts 30,337 residential structures in Benton County overall, 597 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
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.