Tilghman Island, MD
Tilghman Island wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Tilghman Island lands at the 59th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 837 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Tilghman Island's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Tilghman Island: 54.2% of its 837 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 45.8% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Tilghman Island against the rest of the country
Tilghman Island's 84th-percentile standing inside Maryland outpaces its 59th 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, Tilghman Island ranks 12,953 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,283 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 84 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Tilghman Island and the insurance market
Tilghman Island's elevated wildfire rating (59th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Tilghman Island's 54.2% 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 837 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Tilghman Island. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Tilghman Island, see the exposure-zones guide.