Southern Shores, NC
How exposed is Southern Shores to wildfire?
Southern Shores's 2,732 buildings earn a 73rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Southern Shores at the 70th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
52.1% of Southern Shores's 2,732 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,422 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 8.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 39.7% are Minimal.
Southern Shores against the rest of the country
Southern Shores's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (74th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (73rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Southern Shores ranks 8,576 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,879 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 204 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Southern Shores and the insurance market
Southern Shores's 73rd-percentile, 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 52.1% of Southern Shores 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.
Where Southern Shores's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,732 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Southern Shores. The exposure-zones guide covers what Southern Shores's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.