Kempton, IL
Kempton wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Kempton lands at the 1st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 202 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Kempton at the 1st national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
93.1% of Kempton's 202 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 6.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Kempton against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Kempton's 1st national percentile and its 11th percentile inside Illinois, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kempton ranks 31,101 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,760 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,289 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Kempton and the insurance market
Kempton's low rating (1st 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
Even with 93.1% of Kempton 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 Kempton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kempton's 31,101-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kempton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.