Memphis, IN
How exposed is Memphis to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Memphis at the 16th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 648 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Memphis at the 18th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Memphis's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Memphis: 62.8% of its 648 buildings, versus 37.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Memphis ranks
Within Indiana, Memphis ranks higher (70th percentile) than it does nationally (16th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Memphis ranks 26,434 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,216 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 289 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Memphis
Memphis's low wildfire rating (16th 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
Memphis's 62.8% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 648 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Memphis. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Memphis, see the exposure-zones guide.