Clay City, IL
Clay City, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Clay City lands at the 5th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 809 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Clay City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 5th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
76% of Clay City's 809 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 24% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Clay City against the rest of the country
Clay City's 28th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 5th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clay City ranks 29,997 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,558 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,045 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Clay City and the insurance market
Clay City's low wildfire rating (5th 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.
Hardening a home in Clay City
With 76% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Clay City gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 809 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Clay City. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Clay City, see the exposure-zones guide.