Is Hand County, SD in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Hand County's flood hazard at the 6.2th 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 1.2 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Hand County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Hand 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 Hand County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.1% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Hand County compares nationally
Hand County sits at rank 2958 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2954 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 3,097 people live in Hand County, South Dakota, spread over 1,436.633 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Hand County
1 of Hand County's 1,579 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Hand County's numbers. See the data quality guide for why Hand County, like hundreds of other counties, doesn't get a clean compliance percentage.