Anchorage, AK
How exposed is Anchorage to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Anchorage at the 48th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 90,010 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Anchorage at the 46th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
90,010 buildings are counted in Anchorage, and 37.9% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 36.6% rated Minimal. At 90,010 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Anchorage against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Anchorage's 48th national percentile and its 39th percentile inside Alaska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Anchorage ranks 16,377 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 79 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 198 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
Anchorage and the insurance market
At the 48th national percentile, Anchorage rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Anchorage (37.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Anchorage's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 90,010 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Anchorage. The exposure-zones guide covers what Anchorage's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.