How much flood risk does Stillwater County actually carry?
Stillwater County lands at the 36.2th 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 once every 2 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Stillwater County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Stillwater 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, 10.5% of them do — 35 active policies against 333 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Stillwater 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 Stillwater County compares nationally
Stillwater County sits at rank 2070 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2455 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Stillwater County, Montana covers 1,796.533 square miles and counts roughly 9,450 residents.
Checking a specific address in Stillwater County
54 of Stillwater County's 6,027 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 Stillwater 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.