Cascade County, MT: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Cascade County scores at the 83.4th 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 once every 1 years. 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 Cascade 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, 12.2% of them do — 179 active policies against 1,469 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.7% of all residential structures in Cascade County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Cascade County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Cascade County ranks 544 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 693 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Cascade County, Montana is home to about 84,523 people across 2,698.211 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Cascade County
FEMA counts 35,884 residential structures in Cascade County overall, 246 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Cascade 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.