Fairbury, NE
Fairbury wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Fairbury lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,661 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Fairbury's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 65th percentile nationally.
Where Fairbury's buildings actually sit
95.4% of Fairbury's 2,661 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 4.2% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Fairbury against the rest of the country
Fairbury scores 74th nationally and 75th within Nebraska — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairbury ranks 8,255 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,000 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 144 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Fairbury and the insurance market
At the 74th percentile nationally, Fairbury carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Fairbury's 95.4% 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Fairbury's 8,255-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Fairbury, see the exposure-zones guide.