Rensselaer, NY
How exposed is Rensselaer to wildfire?
USFS scores Rensselaer at the 14th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,056 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rensselaer's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 13th percentile nationally.
Where Rensselaer's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 48.9% of Rensselaer's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 8% Direct and 43.1% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Rensselaer against the rest of the country
Within New York, Rensselaer ranks higher (33rd percentile) than it does nationally (14th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rensselaer ranks 27,236 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,346 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 862 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Rensselaer's low wildfire rating (14th 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 Rensselaer
Even with 48.9% of Rensselaer outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Rensselaer's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Rensselaer's 27,236-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rensselaer's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.