How much flood risk does Ramsey County actually carry?
Ramsey County lands at the 93.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively High" territory — well above 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 once every 1 years. 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 Ramsey County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Ramsey 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, 5.7% of them do — 40 active policies against 707 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Ramsey County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.1% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Ramsey County compares nationally
Ramsey County sits at rank 211 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 134 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Ramsey County, Minnesota covers 152.259 square miles and counts roughly 542,015 residents.
Checking a specific address in Ramsey County
179 of Ramsey County's 153,956 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 Ramsey 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.