Margaretville, NY
Margaretville, NY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Margaretville sits at the 20th 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 386 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Margaretville at the 20th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Margaretville's buildings (52.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Margaretville compares
Within New York, Margaretville ranks higher (44th percentile) than it does nationally (20th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Margaretville ranks 25,346 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,500 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 716 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Margaretville's low wildfire rating (20th 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 Margaretville
Margaretville's 52.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Margaretville's figures come from
Margaretville's 20th-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 Margaretville's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.