DeKalb County, MO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, DeKalb County scores at the 21th 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 2 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
DeKalb County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside DeKalb 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, 1% of them do — 1 active policies against 104 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0% of all residential structures in DeKalb County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How DeKalb County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, DeKalb County ranks 2525 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2413 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. DeKalb County, Missouri covers 421.358 square miles and counts roughly 9,884 residents.
Checking a specific address in DeKalb County
Across all of DeKalb County's 4,860 residential structures, 1 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where DeKalb 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.