Saline County, IL flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Saline County sits at the 57.4th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.8 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Saline 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, 11.1% of them do — 58 active policies against 524 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.8% of all residential structures in Saline County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Saline County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Saline County ranks 1403 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1690 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Saline County, Illinois covers 379.996 square miles and counts roughly 22,826 residents.
Checking a specific address in Saline County
FEMA counts 9,939 residential structures in Saline County overall, 82 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Saline 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.