How much flood risk does Mathews County actually carry?
Mathews County lands at the 80th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Moderate" territory — a middling flood hazard by national standards — with the hazard driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about 3.7 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Mathews 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, 50.3% of them do — 901 active policies against 1,791 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Mathews County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 20.2% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Mathews County ranks
Mathews County sits at rank 659 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2522 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 8,602 people live in Mathews County, Virginia, spread over 85.912 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Mathews County
Across all of Mathews County's 5,479 residential structures, 1,109 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 Mathews County's numbers. Because storm surge plays a real role here, the guide to coastal vs. inland flood hazard is worth reading alongside this page.