South Lyon, MI
South Lyon wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, South Lyon lands at the 17th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 3,989 buildings, not the land around them. (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 Lyon at the 19th percentile, close to its 17th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
South Lyon rates 88% Minimal exposure against just 10.7% Direct and 1.3% Indirect — of 3,989 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where South Lyon ranks
Within Michigan, South Lyon ranks higher (58th percentile) than it does nationally (17th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Lyon ranks 26,221 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,257 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 318 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Lyon
At the 17th national percentile, South Lyon rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
South Lyon's 88% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where South Lyon's figures come from
South Lyon's 17th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Lyon's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.