Wanchese, NC
Wanchese, NC's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Wanchese lands at the 98th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,093 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Wanchese at the 95th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Wanchese's 1,093 counted buildings, 76.4% carry Direct exposure and only 0.5% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Wanchese against the rest of the country
Wanchese scores 98th nationally and 100th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wanchese ranks 702 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,321 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 1 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Wanchese's very high rating (98th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Wanchese
Wanchese's 76.4% 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.
More on how this number was built
Wanchese's 98th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Wanchese, see the exposure-zones guide.