Benedict, MD
How exposed is Benedict to wildfire?
USFS scores Benedict at the 54th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 209 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Benedict's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 53rd percentile nationally.
Where Benedict's buildings actually sit
209 buildings are counted in Benedict, and 50.7% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 6.2% rated Minimal.
Where Benedict ranks
Compare Benedict's two percentiles: 75th within Maryland, only 54th nationally — a gap of 21 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Benedict ranks 14,431 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,514 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 129 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Benedict's elevated rating (54th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Benedict's 50.7% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Benedict's 14,431-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Benedict, see the exposure-zones guide.