Copper Harbor, MI
Copper Harbor wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Copper Harbor lands at the 68th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 261 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Copper Harbor's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 66th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 50.2% of Copper Harbor's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 45.2% Indirect share and far above its 4.6% Minimal share — a profile where 131 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Copper Harbor against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Copper Harbor ranks higher (99th percentile) than it does nationally (68th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Copper Harbor ranks 10,245 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,801 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 12 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
At the 68th percentile nationally, Copper Harbor carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Copper Harbor's 50.2% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Copper Harbor's 10,245-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Copper Harbor, see the exposure-zones guide.