Blount County, AL: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Blount County scores at the 69.5th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below 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 1.3 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.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Blount County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Blount 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, 8.9% of them do — 17 active policies against 192 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.1% of all residential structures in Blount County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Blount County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Blount County ranks 999 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 890 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Blount County, Alabama is home to about 60,163 people across 644.905 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Blount County's average
23 of Blount County's 22,586 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Blount 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.