Claremont, NC
How exposed is Claremont to wildfire?
USFS scores Claremont at the 33rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 930 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Claremont's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 36th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Claremont's 930 counted buildings, 50.4% 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.
Claremont against the rest of the country
Claremont's 33rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 5th ranking inside North Carolina does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 28 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Claremont ranks 21,182 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,471 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 732 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Claremont's moderate rating (33rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Claremont
Claremont's 50.4% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 930 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Claremont. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Claremont, see the exposure-zones guide.