Is Graves County, KY in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Graves County's flood hazard at the 56.8th 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 2.3 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Graves 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, 11.6% of them do — 43 active policies against 371 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Graves 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 Graves County compares nationally
Graves County sits at rank 1423 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1268 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 36,821 people live in Graves County, Kentucky, spread over 551.757 square miles.
Your street may differ from Graves County's average
Across all of Graves County's 18,021 residential structures, 51 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Graves 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.