Is Hanover County, VA in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Hanover County's flood hazard at the 61.5th 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 once every 1 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Hanover 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, 11.2% of them do — 42 active policies against 375 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Hanover County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.4% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Hanover County against the rest of the country
Hanover County sits at rank 1263 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 551 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Hanover County, Virginia covers 467.61 square miles and counts roughly 115,309 residents.
Your street may differ from Hanover County's average
Across all of Hanover County's 43,533 residential structures, 176 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 Hanover 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.