Hidalgo County, NM: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Hidalgo County scores at the 14.9th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. 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 4 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Hidalgo County
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Hidalgo County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.1% of all residential structures in Hidalgo County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Hidalgo County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Hidalgo County ranks 2709 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2888 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Hidalgo County, New Mexico is home to about 3,966 people across 3,438.551 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Hidalgo County's average
FEMA counts 1,564 residential structures in Hidalgo County overall, 2 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Hidalgo County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Hidalgo County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.