Breathitt County, KY flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Breathitt County sits at the 82.3th 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 2.8 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
7.7% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Breathitt County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 103 policies against 1,347 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.5% of all residential structures in Breathitt County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Breathitt County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Breathitt County ranks 583 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2232 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 12,804 people live in Breathitt County, Kentucky, spread over 492.422 square miles.
Your street may differ from Breathitt County's average
FEMA counts 7,764 residential structures in Breathitt County overall, 117 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Breathitt 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.