Jasper County, MO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Jasper County scores at the 84.9th 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 4.9 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Jasper 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, 12% of them do — 93 active policies against 776 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Jasper County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Jasper County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Jasper County ranks 498 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 517 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 126,479 people live in Jasper County, Missouri, spread over 638.506 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Jasper County
Across all of Jasper County's 49,714 residential structures, 121 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Jasper 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.