Payne County, OK flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Payne County sits at the 67.6th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 1 years. 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
15.5% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Payne County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 74 policies against 478 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Payne County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Payne County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Payne County ranks 1064 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 696 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 84,199 people live in Payne County, Oklahoma, spread over 684.901 square miles.
Your street may differ from Payne County's average
Across all of Payne County's 27,048 residential structures, 117 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Payne 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.