Murrells Inlet, SC
Murrells Inlet, SC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Murrells Inlet's 4,967 buildings earn a 71st-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Murrells Inlet at the 69th percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
4,967 buildings are counted in Murrells Inlet, and 44.5% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 11.2% rated Minimal.
Where Murrells Inlet ranks
Murrells Inlet's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Carolina (63rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (71st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Murrells Inlet ranks 9,024 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,452 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 178 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Murrells Inlet's 71st-percentile, 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Murrells Inlet (44.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Murrells Inlet's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Murrells Inlet's 9,024-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Murrells Inlet's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.