Mettawa, IL
Mettawa, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Mettawa lands at the 31st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 430 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mettawa's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 33rd percentile nationally.
Mettawa's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Mettawa's 430 counted buildings, 77.4% carry Direct exposure and only 2.6% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Mettawa ranks
Within Illinois, Mettawa ranks higher (81st percentile) than it does nationally (31st) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mettawa ranks 21,706 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,641 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 273 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Mettawa
At the 31st national percentile, Mettawa rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Mettawa
Because Direct exposure dominates in Mettawa (77.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Mettawa's 31st-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 Mettawa, see the exposure-zones guide.