Lake Sarasota, FL
How exposed is Lake Sarasota to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lake Sarasota lands at the 67th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,503 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lake Sarasota's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 68th percentile nationally.
Lake Sarasota's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 1.3% of Lake Sarasota's 1,503 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 98.7% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Lake Sarasota against the rest of the country
Inside Florida, Lake Sarasota sits at just the 22nd percentile even though it scores 67th 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, Lake Sarasota ranks 10,524 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,161 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 742 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Lake Sarasota's high rating (67th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 98.7% of Lake Sarasota 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 Lake Sarasota's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake Sarasota's 10,524-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lake Sarasota's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.