Elk Mountain, WY
Elk Mountain wildfire risk explained
Elk Mountain sits at the 80th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 162 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 Elk Mountain at the 76th percentile, close to its 80th-percentile risk score.
Elk Mountain's building exposure, zone by zone
81.5% of Elk Mountain's 162 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 132 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 18.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Elk Mountain against the rest of the country
Inside Wyoming, Elk Mountain sits at just the 50th percentile even though it scores 80th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elk Mountain ranks 6,414 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,362 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wyoming alone, it ranks 97 of 192 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wyoming on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Elk Mountain's 80th-percentile, 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 Direct exposure dominates in Elk Mountain (81.5%), 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 162 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Elk Mountain. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Elk Mountain, see the exposure-zones guide.