Mead Ranch, AZ
How exposed is Mead Ranch to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Mead Ranch lands at the 100th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 131 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Mead Ranch at the 100th percentile, close to its 100th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Mead Ranch's 131 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Mead Ranch ranks
There's little gap between Mead Ranch's 100th national percentile and its 98th percentile inside Arizona, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mead Ranch ranks 81 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,651 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arizona alone, it ranks 8 of 441 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arizona on its state page.
Mead Ranch and the insurance market
At the 100th percentile nationally, Mead Ranch 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Mead Ranch (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Mead Ranch's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 131 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Mead Ranch. The exposure-zones guide covers what Mead Ranch's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.