Northwest Ithaca, NY
Northwest Ithaca wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Northwest Ithaca lands at the 18th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 622 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Northwest Ithaca at the 18th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Northwest Ithaca's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Northwest Ithaca: 94.4% of its 622 buildings, versus 2.7% Indirect and 2.9% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Northwest Ithaca against the rest of the country
Within New York, Northwest Ithaca ranks higher (42nd percentile) than it does nationally (18th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Northwest Ithaca ranks 25,818 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,531 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 754 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Northwest Ithaca
Northwest Ithaca's low wildfire rating (18th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Northwest Ithaca's 94.4% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Northwest Ithaca's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 622 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Northwest Ithaca. The exposure-zones guide covers what Northwest Ithaca's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.