Mecosta, MI
Mecosta, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Mecosta lands at the 29th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 293 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Mecosta at the 28th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Mecosta's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 54.6% of Mecosta's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 45.4% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 160 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Mecosta compares
Compare Mecosta's two percentiles: 81st within Michigan, only 29th nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mecosta ranks 22,406 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,821 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 145 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
Mecosta's moderate rating (29th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Mecosta's 54.6% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Mecosta's 29th-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 Mecosta, see the exposure-zones guide.