WildfireRiskFinder

Matagorda, TX

How exposed is Matagorda to wildfire?

Very High
93rdpercentile nationally

USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Matagorda at the 93rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 798 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Matagorda at the 92nd percentile, close to its 93rd-percentile risk score.

Where Matagorda's buildings actually sit

798Total buildings
22.7%Direct exposure
76.4%Indirect exposure
0.9%Minimal exposure

Indirect exposure is dominant in Matagorda (76.4% of 798 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 22.7% sit in the Direct zone.

How Matagorda compares

Matagorda scores 93rd nationally and 91st within Texas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Matagorda ranks 2,248 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,657 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 163 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.

Matagorda and the insurance market

At the 93rd percentile nationally, Matagorda carries the very 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.

Hardening a home in Matagorda

Matagorda's 76.4% 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

The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 798 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Matagorda. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Matagorda, see the exposure-zones guide.