Murphy, NC
How exposed is Murphy to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Murphy lands at the 82nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,161 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Murphy's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 84th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
58.3% of Murphy's 1,161 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 41.7% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Murphy compares
Murphy's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (88th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (82nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Murphy ranks 5,740 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,884 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 91 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Murphy
Murphy's 82nd-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
Murphy's 58.3% 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 Murphy's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Murphy's 5,740-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Murphy's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.