Abstract Light-framed residential wood buildings constitute the majority of residential construction in the U.S. These buildings seldom are engineered for specific hazards. As a result, they may be inadequate to ensure life safety, let alone continued functionality during and after a severe natural hazard. The aims of this study are twofold: to assess the performance of light-frame wood residential buildings under tornado hazards, and to link performance of individual building components to building system performance so that the effect of implementing improved construction techniques can be quantified. These goals were realized through the development of detailed finite element models to capture individual building component behavior and building system performance under tornado wind pressure loading. Based on the data acquired from the finite element models, tornado wind fragilities (damage state probabilities) were developed for several building archetypes. First, typical construction quality was considered to establish a frame of reference; subsequently various improved construction techniques were considered in an effort to meet community resilience performance targets provided from concurrent research. The study shows that, while current construction practices fail to meet risk-informed building performance criteria needed to achieve community resilience goals, these goals can be achieved by modest improvements to existing construction techniques.