West Branch, MI
West Branch, MI's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores West Branch at the 42nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,165 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks West Branch at the 43rd national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
West Branch's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of West Branch's buildings (90.6% of 1,165) 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 West Branch ranks
West Branch's 92nd-percentile standing inside Michigan outpaces its 42nd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, West Branch ranks 18,404 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,867 by building count (1 is largest). Within Michigan alone, it ranks 63 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
At the 42nd national percentile, West Branch rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 90.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, West Branch gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind West Branch's 18,404-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond West Branch, see the exposure-zones guide.