Big Sky, MT
Big Sky wildfire risk explained
Big Sky sits at the 96th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,181 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Big Sky at the 95th percentile, close to its 96th-percentile risk score.
Where Big Sky's buildings actually sit
Of Big Sky's 3,181 counted buildings, 85.9% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Big Sky against the rest of the country
Big Sky scores 96th nationally and 92nd within Montana — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Big Sky ranks 1,133 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,187 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 38 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Big Sky
Big Sky's very high rating (96th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Big Sky
Big Sky's 85.9% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Big Sky's figures come from
Big Sky's 96th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Big Sky's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.