Metropolis, IL
How exposed is Metropolis to wildfire?
Metropolis sits at the 33rd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,708 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Metropolis at the 35th percentile, close to its 33rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
70.1% of Metropolis's 3,708 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 13.1% Direct and 16.9% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Metropolis ranks
Within Illinois, Metropolis ranks higher (84th percentile) than it does nationally (33rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Metropolis ranks 21,076 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,511 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 230 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Metropolis and the insurance market
At the 33rd national percentile, Metropolis rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Metropolis (70.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Metropolis's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Metropolis's 21,076-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Metropolis's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.