How much flood risk does Lee County actually carry?
Lee County lands at the 21.2th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Very Low" territory — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.7 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Lee County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Lee 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, 10.2% of them do — 15 active policies against 147 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Lee County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.6% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Lee County compares nationally
Lee County sits at rank 2518 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2636 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Lee County, Kentucky covers 208.821 square miles and counts roughly 7,313 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Lee County
Across all of Lee County's 2,960 residential structures, 17 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 Lee 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.