Manistee, MI
Manistee, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Manistee sits at the 30th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,434 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Manistee at the 28th percentile, close to its 30th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
3,434 buildings are counted in Manistee, and 62.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 2.9% in Direct exposure or the 34.8% rated Minimal.
Manistee against the rest of the country
Within Michigan, Manistee ranks higher (83rd percentile) than it does nationally (30th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Manistee ranks 21,929 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,865 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 126 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
Manistee's moderate rating (30th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Manistee's 62.4% 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
Manistee's 30th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Manistee, see the exposure-zones guide.