Bakersville, NC
How exposed is Bakersville to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bakersville lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 337 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bakersville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 77th percentile nationally.
Bakersville's building exposure, zone by zone
57.3% of Bakersville's 337 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 193 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 42.7% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Bakersville compares
There's little gap between Bakersville's 74th national percentile and its 76th percentile inside North Carolina, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bakersville ranks 8,165 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,664 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 188 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Bakersville
Bakersville's high rating (74th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Bakersville (57.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bakersville's 8,165-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Bakersville, see the exposure-zones guide.