Lincoln County, WI: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Lincoln County scores at the 56.2th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below the national norm for flood hazard. The hazard here is driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 3 years. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Lincoln County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Lincoln 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, 6.9% of them do — 7 active policies against 102 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Lincoln County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Lincoln County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Lincoln County ranks 1439 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1489 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Lincoln County, Wisconsin covers 878.778 square miles and counts roughly 28,461 residents.
Your street may differ from Lincoln County's average
FEMA counts 13,202 residential structures in Lincoln County overall, 21 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Lincoln 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.