How much flood risk does Lee County actually carry?
Lee County lands at the 72th 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 2 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 Lee County
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, 16.1% of them do — 181 active policies against 1,123 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Lee County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.8% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Lee County ranks
Lee County sits at rank 917 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 705 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 83,012 people live in Lee County, Mississippi, spread over 449.965 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Lee County
Across all of Lee County's 30,464 residential structures, 241 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.