University, MS
University wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, University lands at the 66th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 191 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks University at the 70th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 95.8% of University's 191 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 4.2% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
University against the rest of the country
University's 66th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 47th ranking inside Mississippi does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 19 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, University ranks 10,591 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,207 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 223 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
University's 66th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
University's 95.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where University's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind University's 10,591-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what University's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.