Cajah's Mountain, NC
How exposed is Cajah's Mountain to wildfire?
USFS scores Cajah's Mountain at the 48th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,619 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cajah's Mountain's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 51st percentile nationally.
Where Cajah's Mountain's buildings actually sit
Of Cajah's Mountain's 1,619 counted buildings, 88.9% 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.
Cajah's Mountain against the rest of the country
Cajah's Mountain's 48th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 32nd ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 15 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cajah's Mountain ranks 16,553 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,696 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 522 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cajah's Mountain
At the 48th national percentile, Cajah's Mountain rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Cajah's Mountain
Cajah's Mountain's 88.9% 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 Cajah's Mountain's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cajah's Mountain's 16,553-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cajah's Mountain's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.