How much flood risk does Gem County actually carry?
Gem County lands at the 35.7th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Low" territory — below the national norm for flood hazard — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 3 years. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Gem County is one of the counties where FEMA's own denominator for mandated flood-zone structures is missing, so no compliance rate is shown rather than a guessed one — the data quality guide covers how common this is. Across all residential structures in Gem County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.3% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Gem County compares nationally
Gem County sits at rank 2085 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1727 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Gem County, Idaho is home to about 21,857 people across 559.774 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Gem County
FEMA counts 8,724 residential structures in Gem County overall, 29 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 Gem County's numbers. See the data quality guide for why Gem County, like hundreds of other counties, doesn't get a clean compliance percentage.