Olmsted County, MN: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Olmsted County scores at the 86.9th 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 1.4 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Olmsted 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, 16.4% of them do — 37 active policies against 226 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Olmsted County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Olmsted County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Olmsted County ranks 432 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 422 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 166,424 people live in Olmsted County, Minnesota, spread over 653.509 square miles.
Your street may differ from Olmsted County's average
FEMA counts 51,884 residential structures in Olmsted County overall, 154 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Olmsted 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.