Bernalillo, NM
Bernalillo wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Bernalillo at the 57th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 4,531 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bernalillo at the 55th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Bernalillo's building exposure, zone by zone
80.8% of Bernalillo's 4,531 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 19.2% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Bernalillo ranks
Inside New Mexico, Bernalillo sits at just the 26th percentile even though it scores 57th 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, Bernalillo ranks 13,525 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,769 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 368 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Bernalillo and the insurance market
Bernalillo's elevated rating (57th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bernalillo (80.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,531 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bernalillo. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bernalillo, see the exposure-zones guide.