Wadsworth, IL
How exposed is Wadsworth to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Wadsworth lands at the 41st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,184 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wadsworth's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 43rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Wadsworth's 2,184 counted buildings, 84.3% carry Direct exposure and only 7.1% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Wadsworth against the rest of the country
Compare Wadsworth's two percentiles: 93rd within Illinois, only 41st nationally — a gap of 52 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wadsworth ranks 18,648 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,980 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 101 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Wadsworth's elevated wildfire rating (41st 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Wadsworth's 84.3% 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 Wadsworth's figures come from
Wadsworth's 41st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Wadsworth's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.