South Ogden, UT
South Ogden wildfire risk explained
USFS scores South Ogden at the 88th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 5,672 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 South Ogden at the 81st percentile, close to its 88th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
77.4% of South Ogden's 5,672 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 4.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 5,672 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How South Ogden compares
South Ogden ranks lower within Utah (50th percentile statewide) than its 88th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Ogden ranks 3,924 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,050 by building count (1 is largest). Within Utah alone, it ranks 166 of 326 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Utah on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Ogden
South Ogden's 88th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 77.4% of South Ogden outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where South Ogden's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Ogden's 3,924-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Ogden's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.