Middlebury, VT
Middlebury wildfire risk explained
Middlebury sits at the 19th 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 2,454 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Middlebury at the 20th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Middlebury's building exposure, zone by zone
2,454 buildings are counted in Middlebury, and 66.1% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 33.9% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Middlebury against the rest of the country
Middlebury's 86th-percentile standing inside Vermont outpaces its 19th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Middlebury ranks 25,638 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,386 by building count (1 is largest). Within Vermont alone, it ranks 27 of 179 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Vermont on its state page.
Middlebury and the insurance market
Middlebury's low wildfire rating (19th 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 Middlebury
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Middlebury (66.1% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Middlebury's figures come from
Middlebury's 19th-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 Middlebury's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.