Waldo County, ME: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Waldo County scores at the 58.8th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below the national norm for flood hazard. The hazard here is driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about 10.6 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Waldo County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Waldo 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, 29% of them do — 58 active policies against 200 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.8% of all residential structures in Waldo County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Waldo County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Waldo County ranks 1356 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1181 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 40,617 people live in Waldo County, Maine, spread over 730.227 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Waldo County
Across all of Waldo County's 16,423 residential structures, 133 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Waldo County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Waldo County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.