Flood zone by address
Enter a US street address to see its FEMA flood zone: the zone letter, whether it is in a Special Flood Hazard Area (where a federally backed mortgage requires flood insurance) and the base flood elevation when the map has one. The answer is read from federal flood maps when you search. It is a free screening, not the official flood zone determination a lender orders.
What each flood zone means
| Zone | Risk | What it means | Flood insurance |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, AE, AH, AO, AR, A99 | High (Special Flood Hazard Area) | Land with a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year, the 100-year floodplain. | Mandatory for a federally backed mortgage in a community that takes part in the NFIP. |
| V, VE | High, coastal (Special Flood Hazard Area) | High-risk coastal areas with the added hazard of storm waves. | Mandatory for a federally backed mortgage in a community that takes part in the NFIP. |
| B, X (shaded) | Moderate | Usually between the limits of the 100-year and 500-year floods. On current maps shaded X is the 0.2% annual chance flood hazard area. Also used for areas a levee protects from the 100-year flood. | Not federally required. FEMA recommends it. |
| C, X (unshaded) | Minimal | Usually above the 500-year flood level. Lower risk, not no risk. | Not federally required. FEMA recommends it. |
| D | Undetermined | Possible flood hazards, but no flood hazard analysis has been done. | Not federally required. FEMA recommends it. |
FEMA's flood insurance program puts it plainly: “High-risk flood areas begin with the letters A or V on FEMA flood maps.” These are the Special Flood Hazard Areas, defined in the program's rules as “the land in the flood plain within a community subject to a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year”. Zones B, C and X are moderate to lower risk, and Zone D means the risk has not been studied. Undetermined is not the same as no risk.
Flood certificate: the official determination
When a loan is secured by a building, the lender has to find out whether the building is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, and federal law requires it to record the answer on FEMA's Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form, now FEMA Form FF-206-FY-21-116 (formerly 086-0-32). The form names the flood zone, the complete flood map and panel numbers, the community's National Flood Insurance Program number and participation status, and the date of the map used. A lender may have the determination made by a third party, such as a flood determination company, only if that party guarantees its accuracy.
This lookup is not that form and does not replace it. It shows the zone the federal flood maps give for the address point, without the panel number or map date. For the official panel for a property, ask your lender or the community's floodplain administrator.
How the lookup works
Enter an address and our software locates it, then checks that point against the federal flood maps, which hold the A and V zones, shaded Zone X and levee areas. If the match has a different house number or street direction from the one you typed, the lookup stops and says so instead of answering for another place. Where several flood areas overlap the point, the highest-risk one is shown.
If the maps show no flood area at the point, the result says “no zone mapped”: on a FEMA map that is usually unshaded Zone X, but the same empty answer comes back where no digital flood map exists. If the data cannot be retrieved, the result says the zone was not determined instead of reporting no flood zone.
The Environmental Records Report includes the same flood zone with wetlands, the radon zone, FEMA hazard ratings and the federal environmental lists near the address, for $29. For ownership, deeds, mortgages and liens, a title report is $49 per report in the counties we cover.
Questions
Is this lookup a flood certificate?
No. What lenders call a flood certificate is the Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form, FEMA Form FF-206-FY-21-116 (formerly 086-0-32). Federally regulated lenders, federal agency lenders, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae must complete it for each loan they make, increase, extend, renew or buy. It records the flood zone, the complete flood map and panel numbers, the community's NFIP number and participation status and the date of the map. This free lookup does not have the panel number or map date, so it cannot replace the form.
Who prepares the official flood zone determination?
The lender is responsible for it. Federal law lets a lender have someone else, such as a flood determination company, make the determination "only to the extent such person guarantees the accuracy of the information" (42 U.S.C. 4104b). A lender increasing, extending, renewing or buying a loan can rely on a determination up to 7 years old, unless flood map revisions since then affect the property.
What does flood zone AE mean?
AE is one of the high-risk A zones, so the property point is inside a Special Flood Hazard Area: land with a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. With a federally backed mortgage, flood insurance is mandatory there when the community takes part in the National Flood Insurance Program. Where the map publishes a base flood elevation for the spot, the lookup shows it.
What is the difference between shaded and unshaded Zone X?
Shaded X (older maps: Zone B) is a moderate flood hazard area, usually between the 100-year and 500-year flood limits; current maps label it the 0.2% annual chance flood hazard. Unshaded X (older maps: Zone C) is minimal flood hazard, usually above the 500-year flood level. Neither is a Special Flood Hazard Area.
Do I need flood insurance?
If the building is in an A or V zone and the mortgage is federally backed, yes. Outside those zones it is not federally required, but FEMA recommends it: over a 30-year mortgage, homes in high-risk areas have a 1 in 4 chance of flooding at least once, and from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP flood insurance claims came from areas outside the current high-risk flood areas.
What is the base flood elevation?
The base flood is the flood with a 1 percent chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year (44 CFR 59.1). The base flood elevation is the height of that flood shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, in feet on the map's vertical datum (NGVD 1929 or another datum). Flood zones and a building's elevation relative to the base flood elevation are among the factors in NFIP premiums, though no longer the only ones.
Why could the official answer differ from this lookup?
The lookup reads the zone at the address point, not at the building footprint, so a building near a zone boundary can fall on the other side. Maps change, and a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) can change a property's zone. Where the federal flood map shows no flood area at the point, the zone is usually unshaded X, but the same answer appears where no digital flood map exists or the area is Zone D.
Legal references
- 44 CFR 59.1, National Flood Insurance Program definitions
- 42 U.S.C. 4104b, Standard hazard determination forms
- 12 CFR 339.6, Required use of standard flood hazard determination form
A screening lookup from federal flood maps, not an official flood zone determination, not a Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form, and not insurance or legal advice.
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