Is Freeborn County, MN in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Freeborn County's flood hazard at the 49.1th percentile nationally — 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 once every 1 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Freeborn County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Freeborn 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, 8.3% of them do — 5 active policies against 60 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Freeborn County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.1% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Freeborn County ranks
Freeborn County sits at rank 1660 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1438 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Freeborn County, Minnesota covers 707.246 square miles and counts roughly 30,314 residents.
Checking a specific address in Freeborn County
13 of Freeborn County's 17,004 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 Freeborn 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.