Margaret, AL
How exposed is Margaret to wildfire?
Margaret sits at the 78th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 2,058 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Margaret at the 81st national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Margaret's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Margaret: 78% of its 2,058 buildings, versus 22% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Margaret compares
There's little gap between Margaret's 78th national percentile and its 69th percentile inside Alabama, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Margaret ranks 6,921 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,316 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alabama alone, it ranks 182 of 592 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alabama on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 78th percentile nationally, Margaret carries the 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Margaret (78%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Margaret's 78th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Margaret, see the exposure-zones guide.