Traverse County, MN: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Traverse County scores at the 13.7th 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 once every 1 years. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Traverse County
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Traverse County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1% of all residential structures in Traverse County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Traverse County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Traverse County ranks 2742 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2949 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Traverse County, Minnesota covers 573.872 square miles and counts roughly 3,134 residents.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Traverse County
FEMA counts 2,219 residential structures in Traverse County overall, 22 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Traverse County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Traverse County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.