Lower Salem, OH
Lower Salem, OH's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lower Salem lands at the 45th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 54 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 Lower Salem at the 46th percentile, close to its 45th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
83.3% of Lower Salem's 54 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 45 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 16.7% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Lower Salem compares
Within Ohio, Lower Salem ranks higher (97th percentile) than it does nationally (45th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lower Salem ranks 17,404 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,830 by building count (1 is largest). Within Ohio alone, it ranks 44 of 1,264 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Ohio on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 45th national percentile, Lower Salem rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Lower Salem's 83.3% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Lower Salem's figures come from
Lower Salem's 45th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lower Salem's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.