Is Pima County, AZ in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Pima County's flood hazard at the 99.5th percentile nationally — among the highest 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 12.8 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Pima County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Pima 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, 21.1% of them do — 1,708 active policies against 8,094 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Pima County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.7% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Pima County against the rest of the country
Pima County sits at rank 20 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 45 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Pima County, Arizona is home to about 1,080,149 people across 9,188.692 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Pima County
2,620 of Pima County's 383,267 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 Pima 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.