Washington County, AR: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Washington County scores at the 90.1th 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 2.7 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.
Washington County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 1,403 homes FEMA counts inside Washington County's mapped flood zone, 346 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 24.7% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.7% of all residential structures in Washington County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Washington County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Washington County ranks 328 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 275 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 266,184 people live in Washington County, Arkansas, spread over 941.465 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Washington County
FEMA counts 74,755 residential structures in Washington County overall, 525 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Washington 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.