New Buffalo, MI
New Buffalo wildfire risk explained
USFS scores New Buffalo at the 35th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,551 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts New Buffalo at the 36th percentile, close to its 35th-percentile risk score.
Where New Buffalo's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 85% of New Buffalo's 1,551 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 13.5% Direct and 1.6% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where New Buffalo ranks
New Buffalo's 86th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 35th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, New Buffalo ranks 20,543 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,949 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 103 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in New Buffalo
New Buffalo's moderate rating (35th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
New Buffalo's 85% 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.
More on how this number was built
New Buffalo's 35th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond New Buffalo, see the exposure-zones guide.