How much flood risk does Bristol County actually carry?
Bristol County lands at the 65.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Moderate" territory — a middling flood hazard by national standards — with the hazard driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about 3.8 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Bristol 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, 51.1% of them do — 1,025 active policies against 2,004 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Bristol County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 8.9% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Bristol County compares nationally
Bristol County sits at rank 1122 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1006 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Bristol County, Rhode Island is home to about 50,145 people across 24.132 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Bristol County's average
Across all of Bristol County's 16,373 residential structures, 1,458 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Bristol County's numbers. Because storm surge plays a real role here, the guide to coastal vs. inland flood hazard is worth reading alongside this page.