South Hill, WA
South Hill wildfire risk explained
South Hill's 22,019 buildings earn a 17th-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 Hill at the 18th percentile, close to its 17th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
60.1% of South Hill's 22,019 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 6.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 22,019 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where South Hill ranks
South Hill's risk sits at a similar level relative to Washington (24th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (17th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Hill ranks 26,052 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 620 by building count (1 is largest). Within Washington alone, it ranks 477 of 628 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Washington on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
South Hill's low wildfire rating (17th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
With 60.1% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, South Hill gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
South Hill's 17th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond South Hill, see the exposure-zones guide.