Benton Harbor, MI
How exposed is Benton Harbor to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Benton Harbor at the 10th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 3,339 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Benton Harbor's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 11th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 8% of Benton Harbor's 3,339 buildings carry Direct exposure and 30.3% carry Indirect; the remaining 61.6% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Benton Harbor ranks
Benton Harbor's 34th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 10th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Benton Harbor ranks 28,373 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,994 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 491 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
At the 10th national percentile, Benton Harbor rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 61.6% of Benton Harbor 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.
More on how this number was built
Benton Harbor's 10th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Benton Harbor, see the exposure-zones guide.