Fulton County, IL: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Fulton County scores at the 57.6th 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 1.7 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Fulton County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Fulton 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, 11.8% of them do — 19 active policies against 161 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Fulton County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Fulton County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Fulton County ranks 1397 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1382 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Fulton County, Illinois covers 865.694 square miles and counts roughly 32,510 residents.
Checking a specific address in Fulton County
Across all of Fulton County's 14,092 residential structures, 25 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Fulton 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.