Ellijay, GA
Ellijay wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Ellijay at the 76th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 994 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ellijay at the 78th percentile, close to its 76th-percentile risk score.
Ellijay's building exposure, zone by zone
50.6% of Ellijay's 994 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 503 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 49.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Ellijay compares
Ellijay scores 76th nationally and 83rd within Georgia — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellijay ranks 7,655 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,978 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 114 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Ellijay's high rating (76th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Ellijay
Because Direct exposure dominates in Ellijay (50.6%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ellijay's 7,655-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Ellijay, see the exposure-zones guide.