Rutherford County, TN: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Rutherford County scores at the 93.4th 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 2.2 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Rutherford County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 2,009 homes FEMA counts inside Rutherford County's mapped flood zone, 709 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 35.3% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.1% of all residential structures in Rutherford County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Rutherford County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Rutherford County ranks 224 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 203 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 376,996 people live in Rutherford County, Tennessee, spread over 619.548 square miles.
Your street may differ from Rutherford County's average
FEMA counts 98,453 residential structures in Rutherford County overall, 1,067 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Rutherford 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.