Brown County, OH: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Brown County scores at the 75th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate" — a middling flood hazard by national standards. 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 2.5 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Brown County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 691 homes FEMA counts inside Brown County's mapped flood zone, 84 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 12.2% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Brown County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Brown County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Brown County ranks 820 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1108 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Brown County, Ohio is home to about 44,292 people across 489.551 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Brown County
Across all of Brown County's 22,358 residential structures, 91 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Brown 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.