Sun City West, AZ
Sun City West wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Sun City West at the 56th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 17,256 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sun City West's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 57th percentile nationally.
Where Sun City West's buildings actually sit
17,256 buildings are counted in Sun City West, and 51.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 6.2% in Direct exposure or the 42.5% rated Minimal. At 17,256 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Sun City West compares
Sun City West ranks lower within Arizona (23rd percentile statewide) than its 56th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sun City West ranks 13,796 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 833 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arizona alone, it ranks 340 of 441 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arizona on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sun City West's elevated rating (56th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Sun City West
Because 51.3% of Sun City West'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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sun City West's 13,796-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Sun City West, see the exposure-zones guide.