Grand Traverse County, MI: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Grand Traverse County scores at the 58th 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 2 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Grand Traverse County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Grand Traverse 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, 22.6% of them do — 85 active policies against 377 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Grand Traverse County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Grand Traverse County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Grand Traverse County ranks 1380 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 642 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 96,625 people live in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, spread over 464.336 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Grand Traverse County
FEMA counts 43,159 residential structures in Grand Traverse County overall, 126 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Grand Traverse 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.