Garden Valley, ID
Garden Valley wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Garden Valley lands at the 98th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 461 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Garden Valley's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 99th percentile nationally.
Where Garden Valley's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 97.8% of Garden Valley's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 2.2% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 451 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Garden Valley compares
There's little gap between Garden Valley's 98th national percentile and its 94th percentile inside Idaho, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garden Valley ranks 507 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,041 by building count (1 is largest). Within Idaho alone, it ranks 16 of 232 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Idaho on its state page.
Garden Valley and the insurance market
At the 98th percentile nationally, Garden Valley carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Garden Valley
Because Direct exposure dominates in Garden Valley (97.8%), 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 Garden Valley's 507-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Garden Valley, see the exposure-zones guide.