Merton, WI
Merton, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Merton at the 31st national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,343 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Merton at the 34th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Merton: 57.1% of its 1,343 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 42.9% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Merton against the rest of the country
Merton's 69th-percentile standing inside Wisconsin outpaces its 31st national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Merton ranks 21,638 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,865 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 253 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Merton's moderate rating (31st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Merton
Merton's 57.1% 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.
Where Merton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Merton's 21,638-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Merton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.