How is a Community Defined?

Communities are populated places as defined by the U.S. Census. The U.S. Census Bureau defines a "populated place" as a concentration of population. To be considered a "populated place" by the Census, it must have a name, be locally recognized, and not be part of any other place. This dashboard uses the 2018 Census Places dataset to represents communities.

How Can I Use This Dashboard?

This dashboard can be used to view community exposure data at the regional and state level by choosing a state from the dropdown at the top of the dashboard. Exposure is the spatial coincidence of wildfire likelihood and intensity with communities. The communities within the state selected will be ranked based on the Risk to Housing Units value. Risk to housing units or homes integrates wildfire likelihood and intensity with generalized consequences to a home everywhere on the landscape. The Risk to Housing Units value used in the dashboard is an index of the expected damage to, or loss of, housing units within a summary polygon due to wildfire in a year. Additional community level information can be explored by choosing one of several attributes within the Top 5 Communities at Risk widget of the dashboard. This widget contains seventeen different exposure and census attributes that can be explored graphically for the Top 5 Communities at Risk within the region or state.