Yates City, IL
Yates City, IL's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Yates City lands at the 3rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 515 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 Yates City at the 3rd percentile, close to its 3rd-percentile risk score.
Where Yates City's buildings actually sit
Most of Yates City's buildings (91.3% of 515) 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.
Yates City against the rest of the country
Within Illinois, Yates City ranks higher (19th percentile) than it does nationally (3rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Yates City ranks 30,630 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,099 by building count (1 is largest). Within Illinois alone, it ranks 1,181 of 1,445 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Illinois on its state page.
Yates City and the insurance market
Yates City's low rating (3rd 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
Yates City's 91.3% 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 Yates City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 515 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Yates City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Yates City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.