Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)
Land FEMA maps as having at least a 1% chance of flooding in any given year — the "100-year floodplain".
A Special Flood Hazard Area is the part of a FEMA flood map shaded as the 1%-annual-chance floodplain. The everyday name, “100-year floodplain”, misleads people into thinking a flood comes once a century. A 1% chance every year adds up: over a 30-year mortgage it is roughly a one-in-four chance of at least one flood.
On the map these areas carry zone labels beginning with A or V — flood zones such as A, AE, AO, or VE.
Why it matters
If you finance a building in an SFHA with a federally regulated or federally backed loan, flood insurance is required. Local floodplain rules also apply: new construction usually has to be raised to or above the base flood elevation, which affects where on a parcel you can build and what it costs. When only part of a parcel is in the SFHA, how much and which part is the question that matters.
Sources
Related terms
- Flood zone
The letter code FEMA assigns to an area on a flood map to describe its mapped flood risk.
- Base flood elevation (BFE)
The height floodwater is expected to reach in a 1%-annual-chance flood, used to set building heights.
Articles on this topic
- How to research a property yourself, step by stepMay 20, 2026
- Why you should analyze land before you buy itMarch 12, 2026
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