Carthage, MS
How exposed is Carthage to wildfire?
Carthage's 2,155 buildings earn a 71st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carthage's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 74th percentile nationally.
Where Carthage's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Carthage: 58% of its 2,155 buildings, versus 42% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Carthage compares
Carthage's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (62nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (71st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carthage ranks 9,076 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,055 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 161 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Carthage's 71st-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Carthage
Because Direct exposure dominates in Carthage (58%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Carthage's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Carthage's 9,076-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Carthage's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.