Oconomowoc, WI
Oconomowoc wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Oconomowoc at the 34th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 7,045 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Oconomowoc at the 36th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Oconomowoc's buildings actually sit
82.1% of Oconomowoc's 7,045 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 17.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 7,045 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Oconomowoc compares
Compare Oconomowoc's two percentiles: 76th within Wisconsin, only 34th nationally — a gap of 43 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Oconomowoc ranks 20,976 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,434 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 194 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Oconomowoc
At the 34th national percentile, Oconomowoc rates moderate 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
Even with 82.1% of Oconomowoc outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Oconomowoc's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Oconomowoc's 20,976-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Oconomowoc's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.