Kirkwood, IL
Kirkwood wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Kirkwood lands at the 10th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 553 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Kirkwood at the 9th 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
Most of Kirkwood's buildings (92.2% of 553) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Kirkwood compares
Kirkwood's 42nd-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 10th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kirkwood ranks 28,450 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,524 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 834 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Kirkwood and the insurance market
At the 10th national percentile, Kirkwood rates low 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
With 92.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Kirkwood gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Kirkwood's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kirkwood's 28,450-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kirkwood's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.