Bladen County, NC flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Bladen County sits at the 65.7th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; 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.
Bladen County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 879 homes FEMA counts inside Bladen County's mapped flood zone, 86 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 9.8% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.9% of all residential structures in Bladen County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Bladen County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Bladen County ranks 1127 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1449 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Bladen County, North Carolina covers 874.956 square miles and counts roughly 29,777 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Bladen County
Across all of Bladen County's 19,577 residential structures, 177 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Bladen 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.