Urban Honolulu, HI
How exposed is Urban Honolulu to wildfire?
Urban Honolulu sits at the 96th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 61,046 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Urban Honolulu's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 95th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 69.1% of Urban Honolulu's 61,046 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 3.1% Direct and 27.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to. At 61,046 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Urban Honolulu against the rest of the country
Urban Honolulu's risk sits at a similar level relative to Hawaii (88th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (96th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Urban Honolulu ranks 1,131 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 127 by building count (1 is largest). Within Hawaii alone, it ranks 20 of 163 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Hawaii on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Urban Honolulu
At the 96th percentile nationally, Urban Honolulu carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Urban Honolulu
Urban Honolulu's 69.1% 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.
More on how this number was built
Urban Honolulu's 96th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Urban Honolulu, see the exposure-zones guide.