Salem, UT
Salem wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Salem at the 94th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 3,454 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Salem at the 90th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Salem's building exposure, zone by zone
Salem rates 55.4% Minimal exposure against just 31.9% Direct and 12.7% Indirect — of 3,454 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Salem against the rest of the country
Salem ranks lower within Utah (73rd percentile statewide) than its 94th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Salem ranks 2,031 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,839 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 91 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Salem
At the 94th percentile nationally, Salem carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
With 55.4% 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
Salem's 94th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Salem, see the exposure-zones guide.