Sharkey County, MS: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Sharkey County scores at the 12.2th 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 once every 2 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Sharkey County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Sharkey 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, 10.7% of them do — 83 active policies against 778 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 6% of all residential structures in Sharkey County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Sharkey County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Sharkey County ranks 2783 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2942 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Sharkey County, Mississippi is home to about 3,234 people across 431.72 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Sharkey County
Across all of Sharkey County's 1,804 residential structures, 109 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Sharkey 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.