South Center, IN
South Center wildfire risk explained
South Center's 200 buildings earn a 19th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts South Center at the 19th percentile, close to its 19th-percentile risk score.
Where South Center's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 64% of South Center's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 36% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 128 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
South Center against the rest of the country
South Center's 76th-percentile standing inside Indiana outpaces its 19th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Center ranks 25,680 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,835 by building count (1 is largest). Within Indiana alone, it ranks 234 of 967 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Indiana on its state page.
South Center and the insurance market
South Center's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in South Center
With 64% of South Center 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Center's 25,680-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond South Center, see the exposure-zones guide.