Sparta, IL
How exposed is Sparta to wildfire?
USFS scores Sparta at the 19th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 2,670 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 Sparta at the 20th percentile, close to its 19th-percentile risk score.
Sparta's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Sparta (91.2% of 2,670 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 7.8% sit in the Direct zone.
How Sparta compares
Compare Sparta's two percentiles: 61st within Illinois, only 19th nationally — a gap of 41 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sparta ranks 25,425 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 573 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sparta's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 91.2% of Sparta's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,670 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sparta. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Sparta, see the exposure-zones guide.