Seabrook Island, SC
Seabrook Island, SC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Seabrook Island lands at the 89th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,717 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Seabrook Island's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 83rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
1,717 buildings are counted in Seabrook Island, and 78.9% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0.1% rated Minimal.
Seabrook Island against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Seabrook Island's 89th national percentile and its 96th percentile inside South Carolina, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Seabrook Island ranks 3,602 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,361 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 23 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
Seabrook Island's 89th-percentile, very 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 Seabrook Island
Because Direct exposure dominates in Seabrook Island (78.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Seabrook Island's figures come from
Seabrook Island's 89th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Seabrook Island's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.