How much flood risk does Marquette County actually carry?
Marquette County lands at the 59.1th 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 1.1 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 Marquette County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Marquette 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, 10.8% of them do — 18 active policies against 167 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Marquette County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.2% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Marquette County compares nationally
Marquette County sits at rank 1344 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 805 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 67,979 people live in Marquette County, Michigan, spread over 1,809.071 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Marquette County
38 of Marquette County's 26,125 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Marquette 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.