Charleston, IL
Charleston wildfire risk explained
Charleston sits at the 14th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 6,894 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Charleston at the 14th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Charleston's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Charleston's buildings (46.8% of 6,894) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 6,894 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Charleston ranks
Compare Charleston's two percentiles: 51st within Illinois, only 14th nationally — a gap of 37 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Charleston ranks 27,156 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,511 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 711 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Charleston's low wildfire rating (14th 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
Even with 46.8% of Charleston 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 Charleston's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Charleston's 27,156-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Charleston's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.