Swain County, NC flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Swain County sits at the 62.5th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 1 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Swain County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Swain 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, 10.9% of them do — 66 active policies against 608 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.9% of all residential structures in Swain County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Swain County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Swain County ranks 1231 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2164 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Swain County, North Carolina covers 527.725 square miles and counts roughly 13,945 residents.
Checking a specific address in Swain County
FEMA counts 8,879 residential structures in Swain County overall, 76 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Swain 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.