Buda, IL
How exposed is Buda to wildfire?
Buda sits at the 5th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 401 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Buda's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 5th percentile nationally.
Buda's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 92% of Buda's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 8% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Buda against the rest of the country
Compare Buda's two percentiles: 28th within Illinois, only 5th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buda ranks 29,995 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,182 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,043 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Buda and the insurance market
At the 5th national percentile, Buda rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 92% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Buda gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Buda's figures come from
Buda's 5th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Buda's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.