How much flood risk does Starr County actually carry?
Starr County lands at the 72.4th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Low" territory — below the national norm for flood hazard — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.5 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Starr County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Starr 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, 3.8% of them do — 90 active policies against 2,363 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Starr County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.9% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Starr County compares nationally
Starr County sits at rank 908 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 821 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Starr County, Texas covers 1,223.179 square miles and counts roughly 66,587 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Starr County
152 of Starr County's 17,013 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Starr 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.