Chatham, MI
Chatham, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Chatham at the 40th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 216 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Chatham's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 41st percentile nationally.
Chatham's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Chatham: 73.2% of its 216 buildings, versus 26.9% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Chatham ranks
Compare Chatham's two percentiles: 90th within Michigan, only 40th nationally — a gap of 51 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chatham ranks 19,063 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,272 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 72 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Chatham
Chatham's moderate wildfire rating (40th 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
With 73.2% of Chatham in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Chatham's 19,063-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Chatham, see the exposure-zones guide.