Alcalde, NM
Alcalde, NM's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Alcalde at the 72nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 223 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Alcalde's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 69th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Alcalde: 54.3% of its 223 buildings, versus 45.7% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Alcalde against the rest of the country
Inside New Mexico, Alcalde sits at just the 42nd percentile even though it scores 72nd nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Alcalde ranks 8,798 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,018 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 286 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Alcalde and the insurance market
Alcalde's 72nd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Alcalde
Because Direct exposure dominates in Alcalde (54.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Alcalde's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 223 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Alcalde. The exposure-zones guide covers what Alcalde's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.