WildfireRiskFinder

Milwaukee, NC

Milwaukee, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers

Elevated
49thpercentile nationally

Milwaukee's 218 buildings earn a 49th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)

Separately from the risk score above, Milwaukee's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.

Where Milwaukee's buildings actually sit

218Total buildings
74.3%Direct exposure
25.7%Indirect exposure
0%Minimal exposure

Direct exposure dominates in Milwaukee: 74.3% of its 218 buildings, versus 25.7% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.

Milwaukee against the rest of the country

Milwaukee's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (35th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (49th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Milwaukee ranks 16,112 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,212 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 504 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.

What this risk score means for insurance

At the 49th national percentile, Milwaukee rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.

What would actually reduce this score

Milwaukee's 74.3% 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.

More on how this number was built

Milwaukee's 49th-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 Milwaukee, see the exposure-zones guide.