Bentonia, MS
Bentonia, MS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Bentonia's 280 buildings earn a 52nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bentonia at the 54th percentile, close to its 52nd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Bentonia: 53.9% of its 280 buildings, versus 46.1% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Bentonia ranks
Bentonia's 52nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 21st ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bentonia ranks 15,068 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,187 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 334 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Bentonia and the insurance market
At the 52nd national percentile, Bentonia rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Bentonia
With 53.9% of Bentonia in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bentonia's 15,068-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Bentonia, see the exposure-zones guide.