Monticello, MS
Monticello, MS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Monticello at the 81st national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 994 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Monticello at the 83rd percentile, close to its 81st-percentile risk score.
Monticello's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Monticello's buildings (51.2%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Monticello ranks
Monticello scores 81st nationally and 81st within Mississippi — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Monticello ranks 6,146 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 80 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Monticello's 81st-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Monticello's 51.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Monticello's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 994 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Monticello. The exposure-zones guide covers what Monticello's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.