Burton, MI
How exposed is Burton to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Burton lands at the 9th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 16,710 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Burton at the 10th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 35.5% of Burton's 16,710 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 64.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 16,710 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Burton against the rest of the country
Compare Burton's two percentiles: 28th within Michigan, only 9th nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Burton ranks 28,715 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 867 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 537 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Burton's low wildfire rating (9th 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.
Hardening a home in Burton
Even with 64.5% of Burton outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Burton's figures come from
Burton's 9th-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 Burton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.