How much flood risk does Seward County actually carry?
Seward County lands at the 14.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Very Low" territory — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 3 years. 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 Seward 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, 5.5% of them do — 24 active policies against 439 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Seward County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.4% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Seward County ranks
Seward County sits at rank 2710 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1758 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 21,276 people live in Seward County, Kansas, spread over 639.653 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Seward County
Across all of Seward County's 7,751 residential structures, 33 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Seward County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.