Is Hamlin County, SD in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Hamlin County's flood hazard at the 16th percentile nationally — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.9 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.
Hamlin County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Hamlin 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 Hamlin County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 1.7% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Hamlin County compares nationally
Hamlin County sits at rank 2674 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2693 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Hamlin County, South Dakota covers 507.071 square miles and counts roughly 6,596 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Hamlin County
FEMA counts 3,646 residential structures in Hamlin County overall, 61 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 Hamlin County's numbers. See the data quality guide for why Hamlin County, like hundreds of other counties, doesn't get a clean compliance percentage.