Western, NE
How exposed is Western to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Western lands at the 55th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 293 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Western's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.
Western's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 21.2% of Western's 293 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 78.8% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Western ranks
There's little gap between Western's 55th national percentile and its 43rd percentile inside Nebraska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Western ranks 14,122 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,827 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nebraska alone, it ranks 336 of 583 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nebraska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Western's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Western
Western's 78.8% 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 Western's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Western's 14,122-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Western's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.