Escatawpa, MS
Escatawpa wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Escatawpa at the 95th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,411 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Escatawpa at the 95th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Escatawpa's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 88.3% of Escatawpa's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 10.7% Indirect share and far above its 1.1% Minimal share — a profile where 2,128 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Escatawpa compares
Escatawpa scores 95th nationally and 98th within Mississippi — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Escatawpa ranks 1,636 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,488 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 11 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Escatawpa and the insurance market
Escatawpa's very high rating (95th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 88.3% of Escatawpa in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Escatawpa's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,411 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Escatawpa. The exposure-zones guide covers what Escatawpa's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.