Lake Arthur, NM
Lake Arthur wildfire risk explained
Lake Arthur sits at the 81st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 280 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Lake Arthur at the 84th percentile, close to its 81st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Lake Arthur: 50% of its 280 buildings, versus 50% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Lake Arthur ranks
Inside New Mexico, Lake Arthur sits at just the 54th percentile even though it scores 81st 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, Lake Arthur ranks 6,114 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,195 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 228 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Lake Arthur's very high rating (81st percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 50% of Lake Arthur in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lake Arthur's 6,114-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lake Arthur, see the exposure-zones guide.