Is Pamlico County, NC in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Pamlico County's flood hazard at the 58.2th percentile nationally — below the national norm for flood hazard — driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about once every 1 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Pamlico County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Pamlico 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, 62.9% of them do — 1,314 active policies against 2,090 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Pamlico County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 26.2% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Pamlico County against the rest of the country
Pamlico County sits at rank 1376 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2249 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Pamlico County, North Carolina is home to about 12,550 people across 336.513 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Pamlico County's average
1,805 of Pamlico County's 6,889 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Pamlico County's numbers. Because storm surge plays a real role here, the guide to coastal vs. inland flood hazard is worth reading alongside this page.