St. Francois County, MO: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, St. Francois County scores at the 70.4th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below 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 1 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
St. Francois County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside St. Francois 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% of them do — 33 active policies against 301 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in St. Francois County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where St. Francois County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, St. Francois County ranks 969 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 810 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 67,503 people live in St. Francois County, Missouri, spread over 451.886 square miles.
Checking a specific address in St. Francois County
FEMA counts 26,218 residential structures in St. Francois County overall, 51 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where St. Francois 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.