Ethete, WY
Ethete, WY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Ethete at the 84th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 583 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ethete's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 83rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
89.4% of Ethete's 583 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 521 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 10.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Ethete ranks
Ethete ranks lower within Wyoming (66th percentile statewide) than its 84th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ethete ranks 5,123 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,069 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wyoming alone, it ranks 66 of 192 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wyoming on its state page.
Ethete and the insurance market
Ethete's 84th-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 Ethete (89.4%), 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ethete's 5,123-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Ethete, see the exposure-zones guide.