Union County, MS: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Union County scores at the 38.1th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below 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 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 Union County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Union 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, 6.7% of them do — 10 active policies against 150 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.1% of all residential structures in Union County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Union County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Union County ranks 2010 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1496 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Union County, Mississippi is home to about 28,363 people across 415.607 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Union County
Across all of Union County's 11,819 residential structures, 15 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Union 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.