WildfireRiskFinder

Nebo, NC

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

Elevated
56thpercentile nationally

USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Nebo at the 56th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,122 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 Nebo at the 58th percentile, close to its 56th-percentile risk score.

Where Nebo's buildings actually sit

1,122Total buildings
97.1%Direct exposure
2.9%Indirect exposure
0%Minimal exposure

1,122 buildings are counted in Nebo, and 97.1% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.

How Nebo compares

Nebo scores 56th nationally and 53rd within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Nebo ranks 13,970 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,142 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 359 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.

Nebo and the insurance market

Nebo's elevated rating (56th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.

Hardening a home in Nebo

Nebo's 97.1% 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.

Where Nebo's figures come from

Nebo's 56th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Nebo's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.