Dent County, MO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Dent County scores at the 32.7th 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 2.5 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Dent 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, 6.9% of them do — 6 active policies against 87 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.1% of all residential structures in Dent County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Dent County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Dent County ranks 2175 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2106 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Dent County, Missouri is home to about 14,721 people across 752.761 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Dent County
9 of Dent County's 7,539 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Dent 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.