Fayette County, AL: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Fayette County scores at the 41.1th 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. 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 Fayette 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, 8.8% of them do — 13 active policies against 148 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Fayette County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Fayette County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Fayette County ranks 1911 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2046 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Fayette County, Alabama is home to about 15,863 people across 627.684 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Fayette County
Across all of Fayette County's 8,170 residential structures, 15 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Fayette 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.