Howard County, IA: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Howard County scores at the 25.4th 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 1 times 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.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Howard County
10.1% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Howard County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 13 policies against 129 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Howard County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Howard County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Howard County ranks 2390 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2463 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 9,360 people live in Howard County, Iowa, spread over 473.247 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Howard County
Across all of Howard County's 4,741 residential structures, 14 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Howard 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.