Rochester, MI
Rochester wildfire risk explained
Rochester sits at the 10th 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 4,260 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Rochester at the 11th percentile, close to its 10th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 69.4% of Rochester's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 6.6% Direct and 23.9% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Rochester compares
Within Michigan, Rochester ranks higher (32nd percentile) than it does nationally (10th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rochester ranks 28,498 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,008 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 509 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 10th national percentile, Rochester 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 Rochester
Rochester's 69.4% 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 Rochester's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Rochester's 28,498-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rochester's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.