Is Clinton County, NY in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Clinton County's flood hazard at the 82.4th percentile nationally — a middling flood hazard by national standards — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 2.4 times a year. 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
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Clinton 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, 10.1% of them do — 77 active policies against 765 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Clinton County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.5% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Clinton County compares nationally
Clinton County sits at rank 578 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 742 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Clinton County, New York covers 1,037.751 square miles and counts roughly 77,871 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Clinton County
Across all of Clinton County's 31,088 residential structures, 149 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Clinton County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.