Cortland, IL
Cortland wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cortland lands at the 2nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,424 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cortland at the 2nd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cortland's buildings actually sit
96.3% of Cortland's 1,424 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 3.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Cortland compares
There's little gap between Cortland's 2nd national percentile and its 17th percentile inside Illinois, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cortland ranks 30,752 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,508 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,200 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Cortland and the insurance market
Cortland's low rating (2nd 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 96.3% of Cortland 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,424 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cortland. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Cortland, see the exposure-zones guide.