Louisa, VA
Louisa, VA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Louisa lands at the 44th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 768 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Louisa at the 45th percentile, close to its 44th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
768 buildings are counted in Louisa, and 61.2% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Where Louisa ranks
There's little gap between Louisa's 44th national percentile and its 40th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Louisa ranks 17,759 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,939 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 408 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Louisa
Louisa's elevated rating (44th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 61.2% of Louisa in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 768 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Louisa. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Louisa, see the exposure-zones guide.