Clayton, MI
Clayton wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Clayton at the 5th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 220 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Clayton at the 5th percentile, close to its 5th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Clayton rates 85% Minimal exposure against just 15% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 220 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Clayton compares
Clayton scores 5th nationally and 12th within Michigan — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clayton ranks 29,911 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,128 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 654 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Clayton and the insurance market
Clayton'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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 85% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Clayton gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Clayton's figures come from
Clayton's 5th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Clayton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.