Macon, MS
Macon wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Macon lands at the 54th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,367 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 Macon at the 56th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
Macon's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 53.5% of Macon's 1,367 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 46.5% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Macon compares
Macon's 54th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 22nd ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Macon ranks 14,564 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,758 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 327 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Macon and the insurance market
Macon's elevated rating (54th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Macon's 53.5% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,367 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Macon. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Macon, see the exposure-zones guide.