Vancleave, MS
Vancleave, MS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Vancleave sits at the 92nd 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 4,665 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Vancleave at the 93rd percentile, close to its 92nd-percentile risk score.
Where Vancleave's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 97.2% of Vancleave's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 2.8% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 4,535 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Vancleave compares
Vancleave scores 92nd nationally and 94th within Mississippi — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vancleave ranks 2,614 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,645 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 26 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
At the 92nd percentile nationally, Vancleave 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 Vancleave
Vancleave's 97.2% 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 Vancleave's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Vancleave's 2,614-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Vancleave's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.