Saluda, SC
How exposed is Saluda to wildfire?
USFS scores Saluda at the 70th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,588 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Saluda at the 73rd national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Saluda's building exposure, zone by zone
1,588 buildings are counted in Saluda, and 63% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 37% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Saluda compares
Saluda scores 70th nationally and 60th within South Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saluda ranks 9,333 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,805 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 191 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Saluda's 70th-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.
Hardening a home in Saluda
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Saluda (63% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Saluda's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,588 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Saluda. The exposure-zones guide covers what Saluda's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.