Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Winston-Salem lands at the 45th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 94,914 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Winston-Salem at the 48th percentile, close to its 45th-percentile risk score.
Winston-Salem's building exposure, zone by zone
52.7% of Winston-Salem's 94,914 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 50,001 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 15.1% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 32.3% are Minimal. At 94,914 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Winston-Salem ranks
Winston-Salem's 45th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 26th ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 19 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Winston-Salem ranks 17,309 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 71 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 574 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem's elevated rating (45th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Winston-Salem (52.7%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 94,914 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Winston-Salem. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Winston-Salem, see the exposure-zones guide.