Darlington, SC
How exposed is Darlington to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Darlington lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 3,199 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Darlington at the 75th national percentile — 0 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
USFS puts 57.7% of Darlington's 3,199 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 37.2% Direct and 5.1% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Darlington ranks
Darlington's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Carolina (72nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (74th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Darlington ranks 8,134 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,164 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 133 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Darlington's 74th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Darlington's 57.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,199 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Darlington. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Darlington, see the exposure-zones guide.