How much flood risk does Carter County actually carry?
Carter County lands at the 4.1th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Very Low" territory — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — with the hazard 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
Carter County is one of the counties where FEMA's own denominator for mandated flood-zone structures is missing, so no compliance rate is shown rather than a guessed one — the data quality guide covers how common this is. Across all residential structures in Carter County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Carter County against the rest of the country
Carter County sits at rank 3021 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 3084 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 1,399 people live in Carter County, Montana, spread over 3,340.477 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Carter County
FEMA counts 1,883 residential structures in Carter County overall, 0 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Carter County's numbers. See the data quality guide for why Carter County, like hundreds of other counties, doesn't get a clean compliance percentage.