Travis County, TX: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Travis County scores at the 98.3th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively High" — well above 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 5.5 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Travis 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, 52.7% of them do — 3,258 active policies against 6,184 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 2% of all residential structures in Travis County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Travis County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Travis County ranks 60 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 31 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Travis County, Texas covers 994.329 square miles and counts roughly 1,363,767 residents.
Checking a specific address in Travis County
FEMA counts 309,932 residential structures in Travis County overall, 6,295 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Travis 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.