Mingo County, WV: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Mingo County scores at the 86th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate" — a middling flood hazard by national standards. 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 1.8 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 Mingo 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, 17.3% of them do — 316 active policies against 1,823 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 3.9% of all residential structures in Mingo County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Mingo County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Mingo County ranks 465 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1737 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Mingo County, West Virginia covers 423.121 square miles and counts roughly 21,712 residents.
Your street may differ from Mingo County's average
Across all of Mingo County's 9,586 residential structures, 371 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Mingo 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.