Stanwood, MI
How exposed is Stanwood to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Stanwood at the 28th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 144 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Stanwood at the 28th percentile, close to its 28th-percentile risk score.
Where Stanwood's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Stanwood (67.4% of 144 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 32.6% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Stanwood ranks
Stanwood's 80th-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 28th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stanwood ranks 22,565 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,124 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 149 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Stanwood's moderate rating (28th 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
Stanwood's 67.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Stanwood's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Stanwood's 22,565-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Stanwood's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.