Richland Parish, LA: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Richland Parish scores at the 30.8th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. 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 1.4 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Richland Parish's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 27.6% of them do — 307 active policies against 1,112 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 5.9% of all residential structures in Richland Parish carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Richland Parish ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Richland Parish ranks 2232 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1848 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Richland Parish, Louisiana is home to about 19,643 people across 555.613 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Richland Parish's average
Across all of Richland Parish's 7,858 residential structures, 460 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Richland Parish'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.