Greenville, SC
How exposed is Greenville to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Greenville at the 50th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 26,203 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Greenville at the 54th national percentile — 4 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Greenville's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 68.7% of Greenville's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 31.2% Direct and 0.2% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 26,203 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Greenville against the rest of the country
Greenville ranks lower within South Carolina (2nd percentile statewide) than its 50th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Greenville ranks 15,863 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 473 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 463 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Greenville's elevated wildfire rating (50th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With 68.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Greenville gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Greenville's figures come from
Greenville's 50th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Greenville's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.