Clay County, MS: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Clay County scores at the 33.8th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. 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. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Clay County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Clay 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, 22.7% of them do — 113 active policies against 499 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.6% of all residential structures in Clay County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Clay County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Clay County ranks 2141 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1922 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Clay County, Mississippi covers 410.011 square miles and counts roughly 18,213 residents.
Your street may differ from Clay County's average
FEMA counts 7,494 residential structures in Clay County overall, 118 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Clay 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.