Marion, MI
How exposed is Marion to wildfire?
USFS scores Marion at the 17th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 538 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Marion at the 16th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Marion's buildings actually sit
538 buildings are counted in Marion, and 77.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 21.9% in Direct exposure or the 0.6% rated Minimal.
Where Marion ranks
Compare Marion's two percentiles: 57th within Michigan, only 17th nationally — a gap of 40 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Marion ranks 26,287 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,750 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 322 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
Marion's low wildfire rating (17th 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 Marion (77.5% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 538 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Marion. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Marion, see the exposure-zones guide.