Essexville, MI
Essexville, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Essexville at the 14th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,908 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Essexville at the 14th national percentile — 1 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
Indirect exposure is dominant in Essexville (77.9% of 1,908 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 2.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Essexville against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Essexville ranks higher (48th percentile) than it does nationally (14th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Essexville ranks 27,199 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,744 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 391 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Essexville's low rating (14th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 77.9% of Essexville's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,908 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Essexville. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Essexville, see the exposure-zones guide.