Amherst, NE
Amherst, NE's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Amherst sits at the 65th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 199 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Amherst at the 57th national percentile — 8 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Amherst's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 13.1% of Amherst's 199 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 86.9% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Amherst against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Amherst's 65th national percentile and its 58th percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Amherst ranks 11,097 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,892 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 248 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Amherst's 65th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Amherst
Even with 86.9% of Amherst outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 199 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Amherst. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Amherst, see the exposure-zones guide.