Benson, AZ
Benson wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Benson at the 98th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 3,170 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Benson at the 98th percentile, close to its 98th-percentile risk score.
Where Benson's buildings actually sit
71.1% of Benson's 3,170 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 28.9% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Benson ranks
Benson scores 98th nationally and 86th within Arizona — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Benson ranks 711 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,201 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arizona alone, it ranks 61 of 441 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arizona on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Benson
Benson's 98th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Because 71.1% of Benson's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Benson's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,170 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Benson. The exposure-zones guide covers what Benson's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.