Grayson, KY
Grayson wildfire risk explained
Grayson sits at the 62nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,976 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Grayson at the 65th percentile, close to its 62nd-percentile risk score.
Grayson's building exposure, zone by zone
79.1% of Grayson's 1,976 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 20.9% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Grayson ranks
Within Kentucky, Grayson ranks higher (83rd percentile) than it does nationally (62nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Grayson ranks 12,131 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,545 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 97 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Grayson's 62nd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Grayson's 79.1% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Grayson's 12,131-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Grayson, see the exposure-zones guide.