Leeds, AL
Leeds, AL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Leeds at the 75th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 5,785 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Leeds at the 78th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Leeds's buildings actually sit
Of Leeds's 5,785 counted buildings, 53.3% carry Direct exposure and only 5.5% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first. At 5,785 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Leeds against the rest of the country
Leeds ranks lower within Alabama (59th percentile statewide) than its 75th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Leeds ranks 7,866 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,988 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 243 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 75th percentile nationally, Leeds carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Leeds
Because Direct exposure dominates in Leeds (53.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Leeds's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Leeds's 7,866-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Leeds's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.