Tulare County, CA: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Tulare County scores at the 98.1th 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 3 times a year. 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 Tulare County
Out of 18,585 homes FEMA counts inside Tulare County's mapped flood zone, 3,638 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 19.6% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 2.9% of all residential structures in Tulare County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Tulare County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Tulare County ranks 68 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 153 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Tulare County, California is home to about 483,546 people across 4,823.9 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Tulare County's average
3,871 of Tulare County's 132,056 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Tulare 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.