WildfireRiskFinder

Cloudcroft, NM

How exposed is Cloudcroft to wildfire?

Very High
100thpercentile nationally

Out of every US place USFS scores, Cloudcroft lands at the 100th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 964 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 Cloudcroft at the 100th percentile, close to its 100th-percentile risk score.

What "at risk" means for the buildings here

964Total buildings
55.6%Direct exposure
44.4%Indirect exposure
0%Minimal exposure

Of Cloudcroft's 964 counted buildings, 55.6% 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.

Where Cloudcroft ranks

Cloudcroft's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Mexico (100th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (100th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cloudcroft ranks 13 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,195 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 1 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.

What this risk score means for insurance

Cloudcroft's very high rating (100th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.

Hardening a home in Cloudcroft

Because Direct exposure dominates in Cloudcroft (55.6%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.

Where Cloudcroft's figures come from

The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 964 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cloudcroft. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cloudcroft's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.