Bernalillo County, NM: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Bernalillo County scores at the 96.3th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively High" — well above the national norm for flood hazard. 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 2.1 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Out of 2,123 homes FEMA counts inside Bernalillo County's mapped flood zone, 607 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 28.6% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.5% of all residential structures in Bernalillo County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Bernalillo County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Bernalillo County ranks 124 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 104 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Bernalillo County, New Mexico is home to about 671,747 people across 1,161.245 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Bernalillo County
1,069 of Bernalillo County's 226,675 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Bernalillo 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.