Otero County, CO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Otero County scores at the 60.1th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below 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 1 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
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Otero County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Otero County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Otero County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Otero County ranks 1314 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1933 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 17,991 people live in Otero County, Colorado, spread over 1,261.946 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Otero County
40 of Otero County's 9,093 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Otero County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Otero County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.