Mapped: The U.S. States Building the Most Homes in the Fire Line
Key Takeaways
- Urban growth is expanding directly into wildfire-prone areas, increasing structural exposure.
- The wildland–urban interface (WUI) now includes nearly one-third of U.S. homes, concentrating risk along fire lines.
- Each new home in the WUI compounds insurance and recovery challenges, raising costs for mitigation, protection, and rebuilding.
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Urban sprawl is increasingly colliding with climate risk, as more and more homes are being built into the fire line.
This visualization, created in partnership with Inigo, provides visual context to the risk of urban sprawl. Data is from the U.S. Fire Administration.
Growth Is Pushing Housing Into Fire Zones
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, nearly one-third of all U.S. homes now sit in the wildland–urban interface (WUI). These are areas where human development meets high-risk burn zones.
| State | Number of homes in WUI |
|---|---|
| California | 5,089,397 |
| Texas | 3,173,293 |
| Florida | 2,586,713 |
| North Carolina | 2,113,853 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,967,753 |
| Georgia | 1,920,046 |
| New York | 1,686,022 |
| Arizona | 1,461,103 |
| Virginia | 1,389,800 |
| South Carolina | 1,312,624 |
| Alabama | 1,271,160 |
| Massachusetts | 1,225,594 |
| Colorado | 1,080,835 |
| Michigan | 1,064,107 |
| Washington | 1,043,366 |
| Tennessee | 927,138 |
| New Jersey | 884,114 |
| Louisiana | 879,906 |
| Ohio | 787,712 |
| Connecticut | 765,301 |
| Mississippi | 725,748 |
| West Virginia | 665,808 |
| Maryland | 657,306 |
| Oklahoma | 651,632 |
| New Mexico | 640,093 |
| Oregon | 601,454 |
| Kentucky | 594,334 |
| Wisconsin | 585,984 |
| Maine | 579,101 |
| Utah | 572,967 |
| Nevada | 571,013 |
| Arkansas | 557,920 |
| Missouri | 518,985 |
| Hawaii | 508,193 |
| New Hampshire | 493,741 |
| Minnesota | 440,237 |
| Illinois | 396,295 |
| Montana | 321,816 |
| Indiana | 320,704 |
| Idaho | 297,386 |
| Vermont | 236,060 |
| Alaska | 219,319 |
| Wyoming | 217,708 |
| Kansas | 170,952 |
| Rhode Island | 145,597 |
| South Dakota | 101,947 |
| Nebraska | 99,310 |
| Iowa | 73,265 |
| North Dakota | 57,231 |
| Delaware | 44,350 |
| District of Columbia | 980 |
As housing demand rises, construction has accelerated fastest in regions already prone to wildfire. Since 1990, states such as California, Texas, and Florida have each added more than a million homes within the WUI. Most commonly, there are near forests and grasslands that are drying out under rising temperatures and prolonged drought.
Why the WUI Is a Growing Risk Frontier
This expansion doesn’t just raise the likelihood of loss, it multiplies exposure. Every additional home in the WUI increases the cost and complexity of fire protection, evacuation, and recovery, creating a compounding challenge for insurers, reinsurers, and property risk managers.
As development continues along the fire line, mitigation (through land-use planning, building codes, and defensible space) may become the defining frontier of U.S. housing risk. Understanding where and why these overlaps occur is critical for assessing future property exposure.
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