How much flood risk does Kankakee County actually carry?
Kankakee County lands at the 92.5th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Moderate" territory — a middling flood hazard by national standards — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.5 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Kankakee County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Kankakee 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, 14.3% of them do — 254 active policies against 1,771 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Kankakee County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.8% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Kankakee County compares nationally
Kankakee County sits at rank 254 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 589 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Kankakee County, Illinois covers 676.49 square miles and counts roughly 106,410 residents.
Your street may differ from Kankakee County's average
300 of Kankakee County's 38,711 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Kankakee County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.