Dale City, VA
Dale City, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Dale City at the 24th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 18,787 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Dale City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 24th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 30.5% of Dale City's 18,787 buildings carry Direct exposure and 21.1% carry Indirect; the remaining 48.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 18,787 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Dale City compares
Dale City scores 24th nationally and 14th within Virginia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dale City ranks 24,063 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 758 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 585 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 24th national percentile, Dale City rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 48.4% of Dale City 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 Dale City's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Dale City's 24,063-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Dale City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.