Graham County, NC: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Graham County scores at the 38th 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 once every 3 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Graham County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 336 homes FEMA counts inside Graham County's mapped flood zone, 40 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 11.9% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.8% of all residential structures in Graham County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Graham County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Graham County ranks 2015 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2562 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Graham County, North Carolina is home to about 8,179 people across 291.972 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Graham County's average
Across all of Graham County's 5,182 residential structures, 42 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Graham 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.