Monroe County, NY: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Monroe County scores at the 96.7th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively High" — well above 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 2.2 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 Monroe 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, 26.4% of them do — 617 active policies against 2,341 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Monroe County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Monroe County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Monroe County ranks 113 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 88 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Monroe County, New York covers 656.967 square miles and counts roughly 752,202 residents.
Checking a specific address in Monroe County
FEMA counts 243,537 residential structures in Monroe County overall, 963 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Monroe 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.