Dubuque County, IA flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Dubuque County sits at the 65.4th 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 1.6 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.
Dubuque County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 343 homes FEMA counts inside Dubuque County's mapped flood zone, 51 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 14.9% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Dubuque County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Dubuque County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Dubuque County ranks 1136 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 625 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Dubuque County, Iowa is home to about 99,242 people across 608.299 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Dubuque County
76 of Dubuque County's 34,880 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Dubuque 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.