Washington County, RI flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Washington County sits at the 76.2th national percentile, a middling flood hazard by national standards; split between inland river flooding (about once every 1 years) and coastal storm surge (about 3.7 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
49.1% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Washington County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 2,370 policies against 4,832 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 6.6% 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.
Where Washington County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Washington County ranks 782 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 505 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Washington County, Rhode Island covers 329.279 square miles and counts roughly 130,333 residents.
Your street may differ from Washington County's average
Across all of Washington County's 50,859 residential structures, 3,354 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Washington County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Washington County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.