Buford, GA
Buford, GA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Buford sits at the 52nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 6,691 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Buford at the 55th percentile, close to its 52nd-percentile risk score.
Buford's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 42% of Buford's 6,691 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0.6% carry Indirect; the remaining 57.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 6,691 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Buford compares
Buford ranks lower within Georgia (8th percentile statewide) than its 52nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buford ranks 15,118 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,588 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 617 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
Buford and the insurance market
Buford's elevated wildfire rating (52nd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 57.4% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Buford gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Buford's figures come from
Buford's 52nd-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 Buford's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.