Clare, MI
Clare, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Clare lands at the 14th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,576 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Clare at the 14th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 82.2% of Clare's 1,576 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 9% Direct and 8.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Clare against the rest of the country
Compare Clare's two percentiles: 48th within Michigan, only 14th nationally — a gap of 34 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clare ranks 27,137 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,854 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 387 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Clare's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Clare (82.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Clare's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,576 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Clare. The exposure-zones guide covers what Clare's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.