Rowan County, KY: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Rowan County scores at the 67.2th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below 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 1.7 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Rowan County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Rowan 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, 16.8% of them do — 165 active policies against 981 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.9% of all residential structures in Rowan County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Rowan County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Rowan County ranks 1078 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1630 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Rowan County, Kentucky is home to about 24,675 people across 279.881 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Rowan County's average
FEMA counts 10,352 residential structures in Rowan County overall, 198 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Rowan 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.