Jefferson, LA
Jefferson wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Jefferson at the 24th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 5,445 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Jefferson at the 23rd national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 99.3% of Jefferson's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 0.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 5,445 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Jefferson ranks
Jefferson scores 24th nationally and 25th within Louisiana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jefferson ranks 23,986 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,170 by building count (1 is largest). Within Louisiana alone, it ranks 368 of 488 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Louisiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Jefferson
At the 24th national percentile, Jefferson rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 99.3% of Jefferson 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 Jefferson's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Jefferson's 23,986-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Jefferson's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.