Bristol city, VA flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Bristol city sits at the 23.1th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 3 years. 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
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Bristol city's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Bristol city carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Bristol city ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Bristol city ranks 2458 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2015 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Bristol city, Virginia covers 12.874 square miles and counts roughly 16,316 residents.
Checking a specific address in Bristol city
14 of Bristol city's 6,214 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Bristol city's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Bristol city's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.