How much flood risk does Polk County actually carry?
Polk County lands at the 63.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Low" territory — below the national norm for flood hazard — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1 times a year. 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
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Polk 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, 25.3% of them do — 389 active policies against 1,538 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Polk County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 2.5% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Polk County ranks
Polk County sits at rank 1188 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 954 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Polk County, Texas is home to about 54,258 people across 1,057.053 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Polk County
Across all of Polk County's 22,021 residential structures, 549 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Polk 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.