Is Florence County, SC in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Florence County's flood hazard at the 82.6th percentile nationally — a middling flood hazard by national standards — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 1 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Florence 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, 28.9% of them do — 138 active policies against 478 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Florence County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.9% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Florence County ranks
Florence County sits at rank 571 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 484 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Florence County, South Carolina covers 800.454 square miles and counts roughly 138,049 residents.
Checking a specific address in Florence County
432 of Florence County's 47,133 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Florence 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.