South Bay, FL
How exposed is South Bay to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts South Bay at the 89th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 1,060 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, South Bay's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 60.6% of South Bay's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 35% Direct and 4.4% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How South Bay compares
South Bay's risk sits at a similar level relative to Florida (78th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (89th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Bay ranks 3,526 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,517 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 216 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
South Bay and the insurance market
At the 89th percentile nationally, South Bay carries the very 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.
Hardening a home in South Bay
With 60.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, South Bay gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where South Bay's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Bay's 3,526-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Bay's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.