Houston County, AL Flood Zone & Flood Risk Data
Houston County, AL: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Houston County scores at the 87.2th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate", a middling flood hazard by national standards. 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 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.
Houston County's flood-insurance compliance gap
27.7% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Houston County, those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area, actually have a policy in force: 198 policies against 714 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.7% of all residential structures in Houston County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise, relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Houston County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Houston County ranks 421, 1 being the highest hazard nationally, and 580 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 109,366 people live in Houston County, Alabama, spread over 579.828 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Houston County
FEMA counts 42,862 residential structures in Houston County overall, 312 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage, but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Houston County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.