Carson City, NV
Carson City, NV's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Carson City sits at the 99th 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 22,496 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carson City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 98th percentile nationally.
Carson City's building exposure, zone by zone
22,496 buildings are counted in Carson City, and 65.9% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 10.3% in Direct exposure or the 23.8% rated Minimal. At 22,496 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Carson City compares
Carson City's risk sits at a similar level relative to Nevada (86th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (99th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carson City ranks 481 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 594 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nevada alone, it ranks 18 of 123 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nevada on its state page.
Carson City and the insurance market
Carson City's very high rating (99th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Carson City's 65.9% 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.
Where Carson City's figures come from
Carson City's 99th-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 Carson City's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.