Boulder, MT
Boulder wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Boulder at the 87th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 853 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Boulder's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
Boulder's building exposure, zone by zone
853 buildings are counted in Boulder, and 85.6% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 14.4% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Boulder ranks
Boulder's 87th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 67th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 20 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Boulder ranks 4,167 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,142 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 157 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Boulder
At the 87th percentile nationally, Boulder carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Boulder's 85.6% 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Boulder's 4,167-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Boulder, see the exposure-zones guide.