Holmes Beach, FL
Holmes Beach wildfire risk explained
Holmes Beach's 2,694 buildings earn a 60th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Holmes Beach at the 59th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Holmes Beach's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Holmes Beach's buildings (99% of 2,694) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Holmes Beach ranks
Inside Florida, Holmes Beach sits at just the 15th percentile even though it scores 60th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Holmes Beach ranks 12,539 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,940 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 815 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
Holmes Beach and the insurance market
At the 60th percentile nationally, Holmes Beach 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.
Hardening a home in Holmes Beach
Even with 99% of Holmes Beach outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,694 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Holmes Beach. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Holmes Beach, see the exposure-zones guide.