Salem Lakes, WI
Salem Lakes wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Salem Lakes lands at the 34th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 8,690 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Salem Lakes's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 34th percentile nationally.
Where Salem Lakes's buildings actually sit
53.1% of Salem Lakes's 8,690 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 46.9% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 8,690 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Salem Lakes against the rest of the country
Salem Lakes's 78th-percentile standing inside Wisconsin outpaces its 34th 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, Salem Lakes ranks 20,882 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,916 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 182 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 34th national percentile, Salem Lakes rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 53.1% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Salem Lakes 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 8,690 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Salem Lakes. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Salem Lakes, see the exposure-zones guide.