Richland County, SC: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Richland County scores at the 94.6th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively High" — well above the national norm for flood hazard. The hazard here is driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 3.8 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 Richland County
69.2% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Richland County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 973 policies against 1,407 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.3% of all residential structures in Richland County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Richland County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Richland County ranks 185 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 174 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Richland County, South Carolina is home to about 430,651 people across 757.309 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Richland County
Across all of Richland County's 131,728 residential structures, 1,764 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Richland County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.