Owen County, KY: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Owen County scores at the 30.9th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. 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 1.8 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.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Owen County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Owen 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, 32% of them do — 48 active policies against 150 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1% of all residential structures in Owen County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Owen County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Owen County ranks 2229 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2320 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Owen County, Kentucky is home to about 11,435 people across 350.487 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Owen County
Across all of Owen County's 4,969 residential structures, 50 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Owen 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.