Oswego County, NY: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Oswego County scores at the 82.1th 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 once every 1 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Oswego County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 1,055 homes FEMA counts inside Oswego County's mapped flood zone, 202 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 19.2% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.5% of all residential structures in Oswego County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Oswego County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Oswego County ranks 589 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 541 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Oswego County, New York is home to about 118,305 people across 951.62 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Oswego County's average
FEMA counts 50,823 residential structures in Oswego County overall, 272 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Oswego 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.