Essex, IL
Essex, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Essex at the 33rd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 497 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Essex's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 33rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 57.6% of Essex's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 38.4% Direct and 4% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Essex against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Essex ranks higher (83rd percentile) than it does nationally (33rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Essex ranks 21,234 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,400 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 241 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Essex
Essex's moderate rating (33rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Essex
Essex's 57.6% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Essex's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Essex's 21,234-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Essex's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.