Is Vermilion County, IL in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Vermilion County's flood hazard at the 76.5th percentile nationally — a middling flood hazard by national standards — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.9 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.
Vermilion County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Vermilion 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, 10.8% of them do — 36 active policies against 333 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Vermilion County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.2% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Where Vermilion County ranks
Vermilion County sits at rank 772 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 778 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Vermilion County, Illinois covers 898.32 square miles and counts roughly 71,106 residents.
Checking a specific address in Vermilion County
Across all of Vermilion County's 28,290 residential structures, 43 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Vermilion County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.