How much flood risk does Pierce County actually carry?
Pierce County lands at the 18.3th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Very Low" territory — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 6 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Pierce 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, 11% of them do — 23 active policies against 209 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Pierce County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.3% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Pierce County against the rest of the country
Pierce County sits at rank 2608 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1789 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Pierce County, Georgia is home to about 20,669 people across 340.464 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Pierce County
32 of Pierce County's 9,841 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 Pierce County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.