Cedar County, IA flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Cedar County sits at the 27.6th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; 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. 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 Cedar County
9.9% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Cedar County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 21 policies against 212 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Cedar County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Cedar County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Cedar County ranks 2324 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1921 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Cedar County, Iowa is home to about 18,231 people across 579.462 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Cedar County's average
Across all of Cedar County's 8,361 residential structures, 27 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Cedar 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.