Polk County, AR flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Polk County sits at the 53.4th 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 1.8 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.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Polk County
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Polk County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.1% of all residential structures in Polk County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Polk County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Polk County ranks 1529 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1863 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 19,434 people live in Polk County, Arkansas, spread over 856.838 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Polk County
11 of Polk County's 10,996 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Polk County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Polk County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.