Cortez, FL
How exposed is Cortez to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cortez lands at the 69th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,745 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cortez at the 71st national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cortez's buildings actually sit
97.5% of Cortez's 2,745 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 2.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Cortez compares
Cortez ranks lower within Florida (24th percentile statewide) than its 69th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cortez ranks 9,857 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,856 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 722 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cortez
Cortez's 69th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 97.5% of Cortez 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 Cortez's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cortez's 9,857-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cortez's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.