Cabot, VT
How exposed is Cabot to wildfire?
USFS scores Cabot at the 14th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 188 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cabot at the 14th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 65.4% of Cabot's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 34.6% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 123 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Cabot ranks
Cabot's 31st-percentile standing inside Vermont outpaces its 14th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cabot ranks 27,083 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,334 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 120 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Cabot and the insurance market
Cabot's low rating (14th 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 65.4% of Cabot in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cabot's 27,083-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cabot, see the exposure-zones guide.