Wheatland County, MT: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Wheatland County scores at the 12.2th 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. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Wheatland County's flood-insurance compliance gap
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Wheatland County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Wheatland County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Wheatland County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Wheatland County ranks 2784 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 3040 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 2,058 people live in Wheatland County, Montana, spread over 1,422.481 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Wheatland County
FEMA counts 1,930 residential structures in Wheatland County overall, 4 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Wheatland County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Wheatland County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.