Carefree, AZ
How exposed is Carefree to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Carefree lands at the 81st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 2,712 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carefree's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 77th percentile nationally.
Where Carefree's buildings actually sit
52.3% of Carefree's 2,712 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 23.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Carefree against the rest of the country
Carefree's 81st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 47th ranking inside Arizona does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 35 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carefree ranks 5,851 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,910 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arizona alone, it ranks 236 of 441 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arizona on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Carefree
At the 81st percentile nationally, Carefree 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
Even with 52.3% of Carefree 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Carefree's 5,851-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Carefree, see the exposure-zones guide.