Marathon City, WI
Marathon City, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Marathon City at the 17th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 869 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Marathon City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 16th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 74.6% of Marathon City's 869 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 19.6% Direct and 5.9% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Marathon City compares
Marathon City scores 17th nationally and 21st within Wisconsin — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Marathon City ranks 26,335 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,999 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 638 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 17th national percentile, Marathon City rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Marathon City (74.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Marathon City's 17th-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 Marathon City, see the exposure-zones guide.