Big Lake, TX
Big Lake wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Big Lake at the 93rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 2,078 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Big Lake at the 93rd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Big Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 95.9% of Big Lake's 2,078 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 4.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Big Lake compares
Big Lake's risk sits at a similar level relative to Texas (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (93rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Lake ranks 2,309 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,260 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 167 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 93rd percentile nationally, Big Lake carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Big Lake's 95.9% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Big Lake's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Big Lake's 2,309-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Big Lake's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.