Wayne County, NE: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Wayne County scores at the 16.5th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. 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 3 years. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Wayne County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 19 homes FEMA counts inside Wayne County's mapped flood zone, 0 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 0% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0% of all residential structures in Wayne County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Wayne County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Wayne County ranks 2660 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2414 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 9,870 people live in Wayne County, Nebraska, spread over 442.916 square miles.
Your street may differ from Wayne County's average
FEMA counts 5,361 residential structures in Wayne County overall, 2 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Wayne 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.