Dayton, WA
How exposed is Dayton to wildfire?
USFS scores Dayton at the 42nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,715 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Dayton at the 41st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Dayton's buildings actually sit
Most of Dayton's buildings (85.1% of 1,715) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Dayton compares
Dayton's 58th-percentile standing inside Washington outpaces its 42nd 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, Dayton ranks 18,452 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,370 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 266 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dayton
Dayton's elevated wildfire rating (42nd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 85.1% of Dayton 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 Dayton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,715 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Dayton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Dayton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.