Clearwater, SC
Clearwater, SC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Clearwater lands at the 63rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,611 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 Clearwater at the 64th percentile, close to its 63rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
2,611 buildings are counted in Clearwater, and 52.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 44.2% in Direct exposure or the 3.4% rated Minimal.
Clearwater against the rest of the country
Inside South Carolina, Clearwater sits at just the 28th percentile even though it scores 63rd nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clearwater ranks 11,704 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,081 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 341 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Clearwater and the insurance market
Clearwater's high rating (63rd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Clearwater (52.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Clearwater's 63rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Clearwater, see the exposure-zones guide.