Chico, TX
How exposed is Chico to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Chico at the 91st national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 687 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Chico's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 92nd percentile nationally.
Chico's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Chico (70.7% of 687 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 29.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Chico against the rest of the country
Chico's risk sits at a similar level relative to Texas (87th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (91st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chico ranks 2,748 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,802 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 226 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Chico and the insurance market
Chico's 91st-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 70.7% of Chico's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Chico's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Chico's 2,748-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chico's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.