La Jara, CO
La Jara wildfire risk explained
La Jara sits at the 18th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 497 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks La Jara at the 14th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where La Jara's buildings actually sit
96.4% of La Jara's 497 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 3.6% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How La Jara compares
La Jara ranks lower within Colorado (0th percentile statewide) than its 18th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, La Jara ranks 25,833 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,398 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 470 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
La Jara's low wildfire rating (18th 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.
Hardening a home in La Jara
With 96.4% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, La Jara gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind La Jara's 25,833-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond La Jara, see the exposure-zones guide.