Woodbury County, IA flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Woodbury County sits at the 78.2th national percentile, a middling flood hazard by national standards; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 2.2 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.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
Out of 876 homes FEMA counts inside Woodbury County's mapped flood zone, 140 carry the flood policy federal law requires there — 16% compliance, short of full coverage. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.5% of all residential structures in Woodbury County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Woodbury County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Woodbury County ranks 713 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 587 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 107,257 people live in Woodbury County, Iowa, spread over 872.896 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Woodbury County
Across all of Woodbury County's 35,680 residential structures, 173 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Woodbury 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.