Questa, NM
How exposed is Questa to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Questa at the 88th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 1,639 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Questa's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 80th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Questa's 1,639 counted buildings, 84% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Questa ranks
Inside New Mexico, Questa sits at just the 70th percentile even though it scores 88th 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, Questa ranks 3,789 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,625 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 149 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Questa
At the 88th percentile nationally, Questa carries the very 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
Questa's 84% 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 Questa's figures come from
Questa's 88th-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 Questa's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.