Owsley County, KY flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Owsley County sits at the 21.2th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; 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. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Owsley County's flood-insurance compliance gap
2.8% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Owsley County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 5 policies against 177 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.3% of all residential structures in Owsley County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Owsley County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Owsley County ranks 2520 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2889 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Owsley County, Kentucky is home to about 3,928 people across 197.402 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Owsley County's average
Across all of Owsley County's 2,016 residential structures, 6 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Owsley 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.