Jefferson, NY
How exposed is Jefferson to wildfire?
Jefferson's 152 buildings earn a 22nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Jefferson at the 22nd percentile, close to its 22nd-percentile risk score.
Jefferson's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Jefferson's 152 counted buildings, 100% 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.
Jefferson against the rest of the country
Compare Jefferson's two percentiles: 47th within New York, only 22nd nationally — a gap of 26 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jefferson ranks 24,653 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,813 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 679 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Jefferson and the insurance market
Jefferson's moderate wildfire rating (22nd 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
Jefferson's 100% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Jefferson's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 152 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Jefferson. The exposure-zones guide covers what Jefferson's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.