Middleton, WI
Middleton, WI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Middleton at the 28th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 5,869 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Middleton at the 29th percentile, close to its 28th-percentile risk score.
Where Middleton's buildings actually sit
Middleton rates 83.8% Minimal exposure against just 8.6% Direct and 7.6% Indirect — of 5,869 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually. At 5,869 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Middleton ranks
Middleton's 57th-percentile standing inside Wisconsin outpaces its 28th 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, Middleton ranks 22,774 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,934 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 350 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Middleton and the insurance market
At the 28th national percentile, Middleton 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
Middleton's 83.8% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Middleton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 5,869 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Middleton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Middleton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.