Dawson County, NE: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Dawson County scores at the 43.6th 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 once every 2 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Dawson County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 394 homes FEMA counts inside Dawson County's mapped flood zone, 91 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 23.1% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1% of all residential structures in Dawson County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Dawson County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Dawson County ranks 1834 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1633 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Dawson County, Nebraska covers 1,013.786 square miles and counts roughly 24,554 residents.
Checking a specific address in Dawson County
Across all of Dawson County's 11,026 residential structures, 110 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Dawson 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.