Jemez Springs, NM
Jemez Springs wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Jemez Springs at the 97th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 287 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Jemez Springs at the 94th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Jemez Springs's building exposure, zone by zone
287 buildings are counted in Jemez Springs, and 98.3% 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.
Jemez Springs against the rest of the country
Jemez Springs scores 97th nationally and 91st within New Mexico — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jemez Springs ranks 948 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,985 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 46 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Jemez Springs and the insurance market
Jemez Springs's 97th-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 Jemez Springs (98.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Jemez Springs's figures come from
Jemez Springs's 97th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Jemez Springs's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.