Maxwell, NM
Maxwell wildfire risk explained
Maxwell sits at the 85th 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 276 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Maxwell's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 85th percentile nationally.
Where Maxwell's buildings actually sit
Most of Maxwell's buildings (62.3%) 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.
Where Maxwell ranks
Inside New Mexico, Maxwell sits at just the 62nd percentile even though it scores 85th 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, Maxwell ranks 4,825 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,326 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 190 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Maxwell and the insurance market
Maxwell's 85th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Maxwell (62.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Maxwell's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Maxwell's 4,825-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Maxwell's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.