Meridian, TX
Meridian, TX's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Meridian at the 93rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 909 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 Meridian at the 92nd percentile, close to its 93rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
51.3% of Meridian's 909 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 48.7% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Meridian ranks
Meridian's risk sits at a similar level relative to Texas (92nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (93rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Meridian ranks 2,153 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,649 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 152 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Meridian's 93rd-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Meridian
Meridian's 51.3% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Meridian's 2,153-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Meridian, see the exposure-zones guide.