Ozark County, MO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Ozark County scores at the 42th 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 5.2 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.
Ozark County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Ozark 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, 1.1% of them do — 2 active policies against 175 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0% of all residential structures in Ozark County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Ozark County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Ozark County ranks 1886 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2487 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 9,090 people live in Ozark County, Missouri, spread over 745.006 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Ozark County
Across all of Ozark County's 5,429 residential structures, 2 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Ozark 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.