Meridian, CO
Meridian, CO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Meridian at the 79th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 795 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Meridian at the 79th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Meridian's building exposure, zone by zone
795 buildings are counted in Meridian, and 81.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 11.8% in Direct exposure or the 6.4% rated Minimal.
Where Meridian ranks
Meridian's 79th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 52nd ranking inside Colorado does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Meridian ranks 6,673 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,680 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 229 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Meridian and the insurance market
At the 79th percentile nationally, Meridian carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Meridian's 81.8% 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.
More on how this number was built
Meridian's 79th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Meridian, see the exposure-zones guide.