Caro, MI
Caro wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Caro lands at the 10th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 2,065 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Caro at the 11th 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
Indirect exposure is dominant in Caro (75% of 2,065 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 11.8% sit in the Direct zone.
How Caro compares
Compare Caro's two percentiles: 35th within Michigan, only 10th nationally — a gap of 25 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Caro ranks 28,278 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,298 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 479 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Caro and the insurance market
Caro's low wildfire rating (10th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Caro's 75% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,065 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Caro. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Caro, see the exposure-zones guide.