WildfireRiskFinder

Madison, NE

Madison, NE's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers

Elevated
49thpercentile nationally

Madison's 1,094 buildings earn a 49th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Madison at the 41st national percentile — 8 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.

Madison's building exposure, zone by zone

1,094Total buildings
11.2%Direct exposure
0%Indirect exposure
88.9%Minimal exposure

Madison rates 88.9% Minimal exposure against just 11.2% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,094 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.

Madison against the rest of the country

There's little gap between Madison's 49th national percentile and its 36th percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Madison ranks 16,073 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,316 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 376 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.

What this risk score means for insurance

Madison's elevated wildfire rating (49th 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.

What would actually reduce this score

Even with 88.9% of Madison outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.

Where Madison's figures come from

The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,094 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Madison. The exposure-zones guide covers what Madison's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.