Payson, IL
How exposed is Payson to wildfire?
Payson sits at the 11th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 619 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Payson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 11th percentile nationally.
Payson's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 5.5% of Payson's 619 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 94.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Payson against the rest of the country
Payson's 46th-percentile standing inside Illinois outpaces its 11th 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, Payson ranks 27,948 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,570 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 789 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Payson and the insurance market
At the 11th national percentile, Payson rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Payson
Even with 94.5% of Payson 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Payson's 27,948-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Payson, see the exposure-zones guide.