Chili, NM
Chili, NM's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Chili sits at the 85th 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 410 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chili at the 82nd national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Chili's buildings actually sit
Of Chili's 410 counted buildings, 92% 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.
Chili against the rest of the country
Chili ranks lower within New Mexico (64th percentile statewide) than its 85th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chili ranks 4,608 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,032 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 179 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Chili and the insurance market
Chili's 85th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Chili (92%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 410 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Chili. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Chili, see the exposure-zones guide.