Metcalfe County, KY flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Metcalfe County sits at the 33th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 2 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Metcalfe County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Metcalfe 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, 12.4% of them do — 10 active policies against 81 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Metcalfe County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Metcalfe County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Metcalfe County ranks 2168 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2375 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 10,558 people live in Metcalfe County, Kentucky, spread over 289.651 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Metcalfe County
Across all of Metcalfe County's 4,417 residential structures, 10 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Metcalfe 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.