Waveland, MS
How exposed is Waveland to wildfire?
Waveland sits at the 94th 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 4,161 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waveland at the 95th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Waveland's buildings actually sit
47.6% of Waveland's 4,161 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 33.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Waveland against the rest of the country
Waveland's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (97th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (94th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waveland ranks 1,761 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,091 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 14 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waveland
Waveland's very high rating (94th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Waveland's 47.6% 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.
Where Waveland's figures come from
Waveland's 94th-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 Waveland's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.