Sharon, MS
Sharon wildfire risk explained
Sharon sits at the 72nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,078 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 Sharon at the 74th percentile, close to its 72nd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Sharon: 100% of its 1,078 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Sharon ranks
Sharon's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (64th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (72nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sharon ranks 8,920 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,413 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 154 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sharon's 72nd-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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 100% of Sharon in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Sharon's 72nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Sharon, see the exposure-zones guide.