Is Montezuma County, CO in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Montezuma County's flood hazard at the 56.1th percentile nationally — below the national norm for flood hazard — 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. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Montezuma County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Montezuma 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 — 46 active policies against 425 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Montezuma County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.4% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Montezuma County against the rest of the country
Montezuma County sits at rank 1442 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1545 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 26,841 people live in Montezuma County, Colorado, spread over 2,029.349 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Montezuma County
63 of Montezuma County's 14,435 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 Montezuma 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.