Winter Haven, FL
Winter Haven wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Winter Haven lands at the 87th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 16,306 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Winter Haven's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Winter Haven's building exposure, zone by zone
44% of Winter Haven's 16,306 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 17.9% Direct and 38.1% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone. At 16,306 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Winter Haven compares
Winter Haven scores 87th nationally and 73rd within Florida — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Winter Haven ranks 4,032 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 889 by building count (1 is largest). Within Florida alone, it ranks 266 of 955 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Florida on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 87th percentile nationally, Winter Haven carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 44% of Winter Haven's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 16,306 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Winter Haven. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Winter Haven, see the exposure-zones guide.