Baton Rouge, LA
How exposed is Baton Rouge to wildfire?
Baton Rouge sits at the 16th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 89,213 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Baton Rouge's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 17th percentile nationally.
Where Baton Rouge's buildings actually sit
76.6% of Baton Rouge's 89,213 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 13.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 89,213 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Baton Rouge ranks
Baton Rouge scores 16th nationally and 14th within Louisiana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Baton Rouge ranks 26,440 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 81 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 420 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge's low wildfire rating (16th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 76.6% of Baton Rouge 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.
Where Baton Rouge's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Baton Rouge's 26,440-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Baton Rouge's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.