Black Hawk County, IA: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Black Hawk County scores at the 76.6th 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 4.5 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Black Hawk County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 1,385 homes FEMA counts inside Black Hawk County's mapped flood zone, 309 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 22.3% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1% of all residential structures in Black Hawk County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Black Hawk County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Black Hawk County ranks 769 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 500 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Black Hawk County, Iowa covers 565.773 square miles and counts roughly 132,348 residents.
Your street may differ from Black Hawk County's average
FEMA counts 46,110 residential structures in Black Hawk County overall, 448 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Black Hawk 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.