Willacy County, TX: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Willacy County scores at the 40.4th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. The hazard here is split between inland river flooding (about 1.3 times a year) and coastal storm surge (about 3.2 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.
Willacy County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Out of 2,844 homes FEMA counts inside Willacy County's mapped flood zone, 418 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 14.7% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 9.7% of all residential structures in Willacy County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Willacy County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Willacy County ranks 1936 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1826 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Willacy County, Texas is home to about 20,027 people across 590.613 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Willacy County
588 of Willacy County's 6,082 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Willacy County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Willacy County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.