Sheldon, TX
How exposed is Sheldon to wildfire?
USFS scores Sheldon at the 62nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,385 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sheldon at the 65th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Sheldon's buildings actually sit
1,385 buildings are counted in Sheldon, and 97.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 2.7% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Sheldon compares
Sheldon ranks lower within Texas (17th percentile statewide) than its 62nd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sheldon ranks 11,930 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,692 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 1,485 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sheldon's 62nd-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 97.3% of Sheldon'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 Sheldon's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,385 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sheldon. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sheldon's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.