Symerton, IL
Symerton wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Symerton at the 32nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 67 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Symerton at the 33rd national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Symerton's buildings actually sit
Most of Symerton's buildings (86.6% of 67) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Symerton compares
Compare Symerton's two percentiles: 83rd within Illinois, only 32nd nationally — a gap of 51 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Symerton ranks 21,357 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,379 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 250 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Symerton
Symerton's moderate wildfire rating (32nd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Symerton
Even with 86.6% of Symerton 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 Symerton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Symerton's 21,357-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Symerton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.