Spartanburg, SC
Spartanburg wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Spartanburg at the 53rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 15,198 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 Spartanburg at the 57th percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
Where Spartanburg's buildings actually sit
39.2% of Spartanburg's 15,198 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 5,950 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 34% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 26.9% are Minimal. At 15,198 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Spartanburg against the rest of the country
Spartanburg ranks lower within South Carolina (8th percentile statewide) than its 53rd national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Spartanburg ranks 14,731 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 975 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Carolina alone, it ranks 436 of 474 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Carolina on its state page.
Spartanburg and the insurance market
Spartanburg's elevated rating (53rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 39.2% of Spartanburg 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.
More on how this number was built
Spartanburg's 53rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Spartanburg, see the exposure-zones guide.