Panama, NE
How exposed is Panama to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Panama lands at the 60th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 169 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Panama at the 53rd national percentile — 7 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Panama's building exposure, zone by zone
71% of Panama's 169 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 29% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Panama ranks
Panama scores 60th nationally and 50th within Nebraska — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Panama ranks 12,768 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,073 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 295 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Panama
Panama's elevated wildfire rating (60th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Panama's 71% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Panama's 60th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Panama, see the exposure-zones guide.