How much flood risk does Flathead County actually carry?
Flathead County lands at the 79.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Moderate" territory — a middling flood hazard by national standards — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1 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.
Flathead County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Flathead 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, 13.4% of them do — 228 active policies against 1,700 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Flathead County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.8% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Flathead County against the rest of the country
Flathead County sits at rank 665 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 556 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 114,527 people live in Flathead County, Montana, spread over 5,087.304 square miles.
Your street may differ from Flathead County's average
FEMA counts 47,293 residential structures in Flathead County overall, 372 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Flathead County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.