Cocke County, TN flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Cocke County sits at the 68.5th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; 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.
Cocke County's flood-insurance compliance gap
19.5% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Cocke County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 157 policies against 807 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1% of all residential structures in Cocke County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Cocke County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Cocke County ranks 1032 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1248 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 37,596 people live in Cocke County, Tennessee, spread over 436.138 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Cocke County
Across all of Cocke County's 17,547 residential structures, 173 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Cocke 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.