Bennington, VT
Bennington, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Bennington at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,591 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Bennington's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 19th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Bennington's buildings (75.3%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Bennington compares
Within Vermont, Bennington ranks higher (84th percentile) than it does nationally (18th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bennington ranks 25,793 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,664 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 30 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Bennington's low wildfire rating (18th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Bennington's 75.3% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Bennington's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bennington's 25,793-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bennington's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.