Vermilion Parish, LA: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Vermilion Parish scores at the 79.5th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Moderate" — a middling flood hazard by national standards. 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. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Vermilion Parish's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 48.8% of them do — 2,893 active policies against 5,924 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 25.3% of all residential structures in Vermilion Parish carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Vermilion Parish against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Vermilion Parish ranks 675 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 916 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Vermilion Parish, Louisiana is home to about 57,641 people across 1,172.061 square miles of land.
Checking a specific address in Vermilion Parish
FEMA counts 16,400 residential structures in Vermilion Parish overall, 4,149 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Vermilion Parish'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.