Wicomico County, MD flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Wicomico County sits at the 57.8th national percentile, below the national norm for flood hazard; driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about 3.6 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Wicomico County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 701 homes FEMA counts inside Wicomico County's mapped flood zone, 242 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 34.5% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 1.3% of all residential structures in Wicomico County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Wicomico County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Wicomico County ranks 1388 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 590 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Wicomico County, Maryland is home to about 106,329 people across 374.423 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Wicomico County
Across all of Wicomico County's 36,412 residential structures, 488 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Wicomico County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Wicomico County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.