Belding, MI
Belding wildfire risk explained
Belding's 2,388 buildings earn a 20th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Belding at the 20th percentile, close to its 20th-percentile risk score.
Where Belding's buildings actually sit
2,388 buildings are counted in Belding, and 78.9% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 20.7% in Direct exposure or the 0.3% rated Minimal.
Belding against the rest of the country
Compare Belding's two percentiles: 67th within Michigan, only 20th nationally — a gap of 47 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belding ranks 25,219 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,536 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 247 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Belding's low wildfire rating (20th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Belding (78.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Belding's figures come from
Belding's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Belding's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.