Davidson County, NC: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Davidson County scores at the 91.5th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate" — a middling flood hazard by national standards. 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 1.9 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Davidson County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Davidson 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, 32.6% of them do — 123 active policies against 377 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Davidson County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Davidson County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Davidson County ranks 285 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 391 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 177,809 people live in Davidson County, North Carolina, spread over 552.989 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Davidson County
Across all of Davidson County's 74,242 residential structures, 216 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Davidson 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.