Cheatham County, TN: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Cheatham County scores at the 54.5th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below the national norm for flood hazard. 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 1.3 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Cheatham County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 441 homes FEMA counts inside Cheatham County's mapped flood zone, 161 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 36.5% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.5% of all residential structures in Cheatham County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Cheatham County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Cheatham County ranks 1495 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1138 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 42,604 people live in Cheatham County, Tennessee, spread over 302.498 square miles.
Your street may differ from Cheatham County's average
Across all of Cheatham County's 16,397 residential structures, 251 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Cheatham 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.