Pensacola, FL
Pensacola, FL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Pensacola at the 65th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 28,242 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pensacola's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 68th percentile nationally.
Pensacola's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Pensacola's buildings (86.1% of 28,242) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 28,242 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Pensacola compares
Pensacola ranks lower within Florida (20th percentile statewide) than its 65th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pensacola ranks 10,929 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 427 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 764 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Pensacola's 65th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Pensacola's 86.1% 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.
Where Pensacola's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Pensacola's 10,929-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Pensacola's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.