Key West, FL
Key West, FL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Key West sits at the 28th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 9,741 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Key West's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 23rd percentile nationally.
Key West's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 99.6% of Key West's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 0.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 9,741 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Key West compares
Inside Florida, Key West sits at just the 0th percentile even though it scores 28th 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, Key West ranks 22,556 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,677 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 954 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
Key West and the insurance market
At the 28th national percentile, Key West rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Key West
With 99.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Key West gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 9,741 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Key West. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Key West, see the exposure-zones guide.