Madison, MD
Madison wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Madison at the 85th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 236 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Madison at the 85th percentile, close to its 85th-percentile risk score.
Madison's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Madison's 236 counted buildings, 75% carry Direct exposure and only 9.8% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Madison compares
Madison's risk sits at a similar level relative to Maryland (97th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (85th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Madison ranks 4,600 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,594 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 19 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 85th percentile nationally, Madison carries the very 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Madison's 75% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 236 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Madison. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Madison, see the exposure-zones guide.