Buffalo City, WI
Buffalo City, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Buffalo City at the 26th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 834 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 Buffalo City at the 25th percentile, close to its 26th-percentile risk score.
Where Buffalo City's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 53% of Buffalo City's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 22.5% Direct and 24.5% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Buffalo City ranks
Within Wisconsin, Buffalo City ranks higher (52nd percentile) than it does nationally (26th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buffalo City ranks 23,400 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,312 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 389 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Buffalo City's moderate rating (26th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Buffalo City's 53% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 834 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Buffalo City. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Buffalo City, see the exposure-zones guide.