Sunset Beach, NC
Sunset Beach wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Sunset Beach at the 83rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 4,033 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Sunset Beach's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 79th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Sunset Beach: 38% of its 4,033 buildings, versus 32.1% Indirect and 29.9% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Sunset Beach against the rest of the country
Sunset Beach's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Carolina (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (83rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sunset Beach ranks 5,301 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,212 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 71 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 83rd percentile nationally, Sunset Beach carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach's 38% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,033 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sunset Beach. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Sunset Beach, see the exposure-zones guide.