Tawas City, MI
Tawas City, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Tawas City sits at the 42nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,138 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Tawas City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 42nd percentile nationally.
Tawas City's building exposure, zone by zone
1,138 buildings are counted in Tawas City, and 88.9% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 10.5% in Direct exposure or the 0.6% rated Minimal.
Tawas City against the rest of the country
Tawas City's 92nd-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 42nd 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, Tawas City ranks 18,403 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,028 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 62 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
Tawas City's elevated rating (42nd 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Tawas City (88.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Tawas City's 18,403-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Tawas City, see the exposure-zones guide.