Ionia, MI
Ionia, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Ionia at the 13th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 2,559 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Ionia at the 13th percentile, close to its 13th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 76.7% of Ionia's 2,559 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 9.4% Direct and 13.9% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Ionia ranks
Compare Ionia's two percentiles: 43rd within Michigan, only 13th nationally — a gap of 31 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ionia ranks 27,541 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,183 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 419 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
Ionia's low rating (13th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Ionia's 76.7% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,559 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ionia. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Ionia, see the exposure-zones guide.