Castleton, VT
Castleton, VT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Castleton lands at the 18th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 335 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Castleton at the 18th percentile, close to its 18th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
335 buildings are counted in Castleton, and 55.2% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Castleton against the rest of the country
Compare Castleton's two percentiles: 79th within Vermont, only 18th nationally — a gap of 61 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Castleton ranks 25,919 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,713 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 37 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Castleton
At the 18th national percentile, Castleton rates low 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 Castleton
With 55.2% of Castleton 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.
Where Castleton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Castleton's 25,919-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Castleton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.