Reno, NV
How exposed is Reno to wildfire?
Reno sits at the 98th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 81,759 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Reno at the 97th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Reno's buildings actually sit
52.7% of Reno's 81,759 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 81,759 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Reno against the rest of the country
Inside Nevada, Reno sits at just the 75th percentile even though it scores 98th 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, Reno ranks 728 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 91 by building count (1 is largest). Within Nevada alone, it ranks 32 of 123 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Nevada on its state page.
Reno and the insurance market
Reno's very high rating (98th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 52.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Reno gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Reno's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 81,759 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Reno. The exposure-zones guide covers what Reno's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.