Cato, NY
How exposed is Cato to wildfire?
Cato sits at the 7th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 265 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cato at the 7th percentile, close to its 7th-percentile risk score.
Cato's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Cato's 265 counted buildings, 51.3% 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.
Cato against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Cato's 7th national percentile and its 13th percentile inside New York, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cato ranks 29,353 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,670 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,125 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cato
Cato's low rating (7th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 51.3% of Cato 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 265 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cato. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cato, see the exposure-zones guide.