La Fayette, IL
La Fayette wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts La Fayette at the 3rd national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 145 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks La Fayette at the 3rd national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where La Fayette's buildings actually sit
Most of La Fayette's buildings (78.6% of 145) 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 La Fayette compares
There's little gap between La Fayette's 3rd national percentile and its 18th percentile inside Illinois, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, La Fayette ranks 30,689 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,068 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,189 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in La Fayette
La Fayette's low wildfire rating (3rd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in La Fayette
Even with 78.6% of La Fayette 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 La Fayette's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 145 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for La Fayette. The exposure-zones guide covers what La Fayette's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.