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US Counties With the Lowest Expected Yearly Wildfire Loss

3,144 US counties ranked by expected yearly wildfire loss, from lowest to highest. First are Aleutians West Census Area, AK (0), Bronx County, NY (0.000279) and New York County, NY (0.000487). The middle one of the 3,144 has 0.599.

What this measures

The damage wildfires are expected to do to buildings in an average year, in dollars for every $100,000 that the buildings are worth. FEMA works it out from a national map of how likely land is to burn and how much damage past fires did. Source: FEMA National Risk Index.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 lowest counties

RankCounty$ per $100,000 of buildings
1Aleutians West Census Area, AK0
2Bronx County, NY0.000279
3New York County, NY0.000487
4St. Louis city, MO0.000801
5Queens County, NY0.00088
6Hudson County, NJ0.000999
7Aleutians East Borough, AK0.00122
8Charlottesville city, VA0.00132
9Essex County, NJ0.00144
10Suffolk County, MA0.00156
11Philadelphia County, PA0.00251
12District of Columbia, DC0.00256
13Warren County, IL0.00258
14Falls Church city, VA0.00307
15Kings County, NY0.00334
16Covington city, VA0.00342
17Marion County, IN0.00384
18Manassas city, VA0.00387
19Union County, NJ0.00389
20Passaic County, NJ0.0039
21Bergen County, NJ0.0039
22Lawrence County, IL0.0042
23Greene County, IL0.00424
24Martinsville city, VA0.00436
25Franklin County, OH0.0044
26Cook County, IL0.00476
27Cass County, IL0.00479
28Bristol city, VA0.00491
29Wabash County, IL0.00558
30Knox County, IL0.00559
31Manassas Park city, VA0.00563
32Logan County, IL0.00565
33Montgomery County, MD0.00568
34Peoria County, IL0.00578
35Arlington County, VA0.00579
36Baltimore city, MD0.00592
37Rockland County, NY0.00597
38Hancock County, OH0.00609
39Scott County, IL0.00614
40DeKalb County, IL0.00667
41Milwaukee County, WI0.0068
42San Francisco County, CA0.00684
43McDonough County, IL0.00699
44Harrisonburg city, VA0.00701
45Marion County, OH0.00703
46Alexandria city, VA0.00714
47St. Clair County, IL0.00738
48Delaware County, PA0.00773
49Seneca County, OH0.00787
50Roanoke city, VA0.0079
51Morgan County, IL0.00795
52Tazewell County, IL0.00804
53McLean County, IL0.00807
54Madison County, IL0.00808
55DuPage County, IL0.00809
56Rock Island County, IL0.00818
57Schuyler County, IL0.00818
58Livingston County, IL0.00822
59Jersey County, IL0.00839
60Hardin County, OH0.00865
61Brown County, IL0.00874
62Edwards County, IL0.00896
63Salem city, VA0.009
64Fairfax County, VA0.00903
65Wyandot County, OH0.00905
66Montgomery County, PA0.00915
67East Baton Rouge Parish, LA0.00943
68Howard County, MD0.00993
69Sangamon County, IL0.0101
70Allen County, OH0.0105
71Rush County, IN0.0107
72Franklin County, IL0.0107
73Providence County, RI0.0107
74Saginaw County, MI0.0108
75Pulaski County, IL0.0109
76Nassau County, NY0.011
77Mason County, IL0.0111
78Prince William County, VA0.0112
79White County, IL0.0113
80Fulton County, IL0.0113
81Hendricks County, IN0.0114
82Fairfax city, VA0.0114
83Hamilton County, IL0.0115
84Buena Vista city, VA0.0115
85Union County, IN0.0116
86Genesee County, MI0.0116
87Cameron County, PA0.0118
88Chester County, PA0.0118
89Wayne County, MI0.0118
90Iroquois County, IL0.0119
91Wirt County, WV0.0119
92Richmond city, VA0.012
93Lynchburg city, VA0.0122
94Madison County, OH0.0123
95Champaign County, IL0.0123
96Hancock County, IN0.0123
97Wayne County, IL0.0123
98Crawford County, OH0.0123
99Jefferson Parish, LA0.0124
100Sandusky County, OH0.0127

Every state, lowest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

RankState$ per $100,000 of buildings
1District of Columbia0.00256
2Illinois0.0149
3Rhode Island0.0178
4Connecticut0.0332
5New York0.0349
6Indiana0.0395
7Pennsylvania0.0463
8Ohio0.0477
9Massachusetts0.0493
10Vermont0.0697
11Maine0.0793
12Wisconsin0.0859
13Michigan0.0922
14New Hampshire0.117
15Maryland0.19
16Tennessee0.219
17Virginia0.237
18Delaware0.265
19Missouri0.459
20Iowa0.467
21West Virginia0.472
22North Carolina0.541
23Georgia0.571
24Louisiana0.618
25New Jersey0.627
26Alabama0.652
27Kentucky0.698
28Minnesota0.772
29South Carolina1.16
30Mississippi1.67
31Arkansas1.87
32Texas2.41
33Florida2.69
34Nebraska4.42
35North Dakota5.49
36Kansas6.35
37Oklahoma6.43
38Washington11.3
39Oregon13.4
40South Dakota13.5
41Alaska17.1
42Hawaii17.3
43Wyoming17.4
44Arizona17.9
45Colorado19.4
46New Mexico24.6
47California24.7
48Montana25.8
49Nevada26.7
50Idaho37.4
51Utah37.4

More on expected yearly wildfire loss

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.