Pearlington, MS
Pearlington, MS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Pearlington at the 97th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 1,066 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Pearlington at the 97th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
86.7% of Pearlington's 1,066 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 924 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 12.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 1.1% are Minimal.
Pearlington against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Pearlington's 97th national percentile and its 100th percentile inside Mississippi, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pearlington ranks 883 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,489 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 1 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Pearlington's very high rating (97th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Pearlington's 86.7% 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 Pearlington's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Pearlington's 883-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pearlington's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.