Clifton, IL
Clifton, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Clifton at the 1st national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 777 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 Clifton at the 1st percentile, close to its 1st-percentile risk score.
Clifton's building exposure, zone by zone
Clifton rates 92.2% Minimal exposure against just 7.9% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 777 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Clifton ranks
Clifton scores 1st nationally and 9th within Illinois — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Clifton ranks 31,225 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,839 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,317 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Clifton and the insurance market
Clifton's low rating (1st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 92.2% of Clifton outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Clifton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 777 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Clifton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Clifton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.