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 every 1 years. 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.