Is Ohio County, WV in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Ohio County's flood hazard at the 85.3th percentile nationally — a middling flood hazard by national standards — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.4 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Ohio County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Ohio 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, 23.5% of them do — 427 active policies against 1,818 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Ohio County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 3.4% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Ohio County compares nationally
Ohio County sits at rank 485 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1171 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Ohio County, West Virginia is home to about 41,090 people across 106.035 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Ohio County's average
474 of Ohio County's 14,066 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 Ohio 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.