St. Matthews, KY
St. Matthews, KY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, St. Matthews lands at the 11th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 7,573 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, St. Matthews's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 14th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 73.3% of St. Matthews's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 26.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 7,573 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where St. Matthews ranks
St. Matthews scores 11th nationally and 14th within Kentucky — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Matthews ranks 27,952 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,259 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 473 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
St. Matthews's low rating (11th 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
Even with 73.3% of St. Matthews 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 St. Matthews's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind St. Matthews's 27,952-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what St. Matthews's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.