Mackinac Island, MI
How exposed is Mackinac Island to wildfire?
USFS scores Mackinac Island at the 25th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 779 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Mackinac Island at the 24th percentile, close to its 25th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
60.2% of Mackinac Island's 779 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 469 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 37.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 2.2% are Minimal.
Where Mackinac Island ranks
Mackinac Island's 76th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 25th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mackinac Island ranks 23,512 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,826 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 175 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Mackinac Island's moderate wildfire rating (25th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Mackinac Island (60.2%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Mackinac Island's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Mackinac Island's 23,512-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Mackinac Island's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.