Salem, IN
Salem, IN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Salem at the 13th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 3,580 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Salem's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 14th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Salem rates 62.9% Minimal exposure against just 37.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 3,580 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Salem ranks
Within Indiana, Salem ranks higher (65th percentile) than it does nationally (13th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Salem ranks 27,289 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,679 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 344 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
Salem and the insurance market
Salem's low rating (13th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 62.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Salem gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,580 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Salem. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Salem, see the exposure-zones guide.