Simpson County, KY: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Simpson County scores at the 24.2th 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 1.2 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Simpson County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Simpson 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, 35.9% of them do — 23 active policies against 64 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Simpson County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Simpson County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Simpson County ranks 2423 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1806 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Simpson County, Kentucky covers 234.185 square miles and counts roughly 20,350 residents.
Your street may differ from Simpson County's average
Across all of Simpson County's 7,440 residential structures, 32 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Simpson 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.