Waverly, GA
Waverly wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Waverly lands at the 88th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 176 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waverly at the 87th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Waverly's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 99.4% of Waverly's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0.6% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 175 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Waverly ranks
There's little gap between Waverly's 88th national percentile and its 97th percentile inside Georgia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waverly ranks 3,933 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,772 by building count (1 is largest). Within Georgia alone, it ranks 21 of 669 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Georgia on its state page.
Waverly and the insurance market
Waverly's 88th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Waverly (99.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Waverly's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Waverly's 3,933-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Waverly's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.