Highland Meadows, NM
How exposed is Highland Meadows to wildfire?
USFS scores Highland Meadows at the 54th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 455 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Highland Meadows at the 55th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
455 buildings are counted in Highland Meadows, and 100% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Highland Meadows against the rest of the country
Inside New Mexico, Highland Meadows sits at just the 20th percentile even though it scores 54th 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, Highland Meadows ranks 14,633 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,178 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 396 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Highland Meadows
Highland Meadows's elevated wildfire rating (54th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Highland Meadows (100%), 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 455 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Highland Meadows. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Highland Meadows, see the exposure-zones guide.