Cutler, IL
Cutler wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Cutler at the 36th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 321 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cutler at the 37th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Cutler (82.6% of 321 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 17.5% sit in the Direct zone.
Cutler against the rest of the country
Cutler's 88th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 36th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cutler ranks 20,257 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,055 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 178 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Cutler's moderate rating (36th 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
Because 82.6% of Cutler's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cutler's 36th-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 Cutler, see the exposure-zones guide.