Vernon, MI
Vernon wildfire risk explained
Vernon's 476 buildings earn a 4th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Vernon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 4th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Vernon's buildings (81.3% of 476) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Vernon ranks
There's little gap between Vernon's 4th national percentile and its 6th percentile inside Michigan, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Vernon ranks 30,417 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,781 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 701 of 745 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Michigan on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Vernon's low rating (4th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Vernon's 81.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Vernon's 30,417-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Vernon, see the exposure-zones guide.