Maeystown, IL
How exposed is Maeystown to wildfire?
USFS scores Maeystown at the 37th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 129 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 Maeystown at the 37th percentile, close to its 37th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Maeystown's buildings (57.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Maeystown ranks
Compare Maeystown's two percentiles: 90th within Illinois, only 37th nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Maeystown ranks 19,724 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,745 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 151 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Maeystown's moderate wildfire rating (37th 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Maeystown (57.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Maeystown's figures come from
Maeystown's 37th-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 Maeystown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.