How much flood risk does Leake County actually carry?
Leake County lands at the 45.3th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Low" territory — below the national norm for flood hazard — with the hazard 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. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Leake County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Leake 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, 17.1% of them do — 15 active policies against 88 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Leake County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.4% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Leake County compares nationally
Leake County sits at rank 1781 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1748 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Leake County, Mississippi is home to about 21,462 people across 582.897 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Leake County
Across all of Leake County's 5,771 residential structures, 22 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Leake 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.