Lauderdale County, TN flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Lauderdale County sits at the 25.2th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
13.9% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Lauderdale County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 58 policies against 417 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 Lauderdale County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Lauderdale County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Lauderdale County ranks 2396 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1631 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 24,630 people live in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, spread over 471.895 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Lauderdale County
FEMA counts 9,819 residential structures in Lauderdale County overall, 67 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Lauderdale 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.