How much flood risk does Vernon County actually carry?
Vernon County lands at the 70.2th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Low" territory — below the national norm for flood hazard — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 2.6 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.
Vernon County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Vernon 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, 9.6% of them do — 17 active policies against 178 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Vernon County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.3% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Vernon County compares nationally
Vernon County sits at rank 977 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 1407 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Vernon County, Wisconsin is home to about 31,351 people across 791.563 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Vernon County's average
39 of Vernon County's 12,245 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Vernon 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.