South Sarasota, FL
South Sarasota wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts South Sarasota at the 55th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 2,398 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Sarasota at the 55th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
South Sarasota's building exposure, zone by zone
South Sarasota rates 93.1% Minimal exposure against just 6.9% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 2,398 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where South Sarasota ranks
South Sarasota's 55th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 8th ranking inside Florida does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 47 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Sarasota ranks 14,175 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,518 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 877 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Sarasota
At the 55th national percentile, South Sarasota rates elevated 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 Sarasota's 93.1% 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 Sarasota's figures come from
South Sarasota's 55th-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 Sarasota's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.