Union, KY
How exposed is Union to wildfire?
USFS scores Union at the 16th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 2,306 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Union at the 17th percentile, close to its 16th-percentile risk score.
Where Union's buildings actually sit
44.2% of Union's 2,306 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 1,019 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 38.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 17.7% are Minimal.
Union against the rest of the country
Union scores 16th nationally and 25th within Kentucky — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Union ranks 26,563 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,686 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kentucky alone, it ranks 413 of 552 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kentucky on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Union's low wildfire rating (16th 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 Union
Union's 44.2% 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.
Where Union's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Union's 26,563-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Union's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.