Cape May County, NJ flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Cape May County sits at the 99.4th national percentile, among the highest flood hazard in the country; split between inland river flooding (about 1.6 times a year) and coastal storm surge (about 3.7 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 Cape May County
74.4% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Cape May County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 24,098 policies against 32,391 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 40.1% of all residential structures in Cape May County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Cape May County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Cape May County ranks 24 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 653 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 93,875 people live in Cape May County, New Jersey, spread over 251.513 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Cape May County
Across all of Cape May County's 64,831 residential structures, 25,975 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Cape May County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Cape May County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.