Morganton, NC
Morganton, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Morganton's 8,478 buildings earn a 52nd-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, Morganton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
Morganton's building exposure, zone by zone
52.1% of Morganton's 8,478 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 4,419 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 23.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 24.4% are Minimal. At 8,478 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Morganton compares
Morganton's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (44th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (52nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Morganton ranks 15,098 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,962 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 432 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Morganton and the insurance market
At the 52nd national percentile, Morganton 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
Morganton's 52.1% 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
Morganton's 52nd-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 Morganton, see the exposure-zones guide.