Smiley, TX
Smiley wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Smiley at the 73rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 368 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Smiley at the 75th percentile, close to its 73rd-percentile risk score.
Smiley's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Smiley: 51.9% of its 368 buildings, versus 48.1% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Smiley ranks
Smiley's 73rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 41st ranking inside Texas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 33 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Smiley ranks 8,395 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,919 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 1,062 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Smiley and the insurance market
At the 73rd percentile nationally, Smiley carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Smiley's 51.9% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Smiley's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 368 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Smiley. The exposure-zones guide covers what Smiley's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.