Painter, VA
How exposed is Painter to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Painter lands at the 50th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 212 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Painter at the 49th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Painter's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 56.1% of Painter's 212 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 43.9% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Painter against the rest of the country
Painter's risk sits at a similar level relative to Virginia (52nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (50th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Painter ranks 15,933 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,422 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 326 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Painter's elevated wildfire rating (50th 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 Painter
Because 56.1% of Painter's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Painter's figures come from
Painter's 50th-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 Painter's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.