Saugatuck, MI
Saugatuck wildfire risk explained
Saugatuck sits at the 16th 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 743 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 Saugatuck at the 17th percentile, close to its 16th-percentile risk score.
Where Saugatuck's buildings actually sit
59.1% of Saugatuck's 743 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 38.9% Direct and 2% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Saugatuck ranks
Compare Saugatuck's two percentiles: 56th within Michigan, only 16th nationally — a gap of 39 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Saugatuck ranks 26,444 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,195 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 332 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
Saugatuck's low wildfire rating (16th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Saugatuck
Because 59.1% of Saugatuck's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Saugatuck's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Saugatuck's 26,444-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Saugatuck's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.