Isle of Palms, SC
Isle of Palms wildfire risk explained
Isle of Palms's 3,746 buildings earn a 92nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Isle of Palms at the 85th national percentile — 7 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Isle of Palms's buildings actually sit
Isle of Palms rates 88.1% Minimal exposure against just 9.6% Direct and 2.2% Indirect — of 3,746 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Isle of Palms ranks
Isle of Palms scores 92nd nationally and 99th within South Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Isle of Palms ranks 2,533 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,479 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 8 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Isle of Palms
Isle of Palms's very high rating (92nd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 88.1% of Isle of Palms 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.
Where Isle of Palms's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,746 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Isle of Palms. The exposure-zones guide covers what Isle of Palms's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.