Richards, TX
Richards, TX's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Richards at the 77th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 221 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Richards at the 79th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 54.3% of Richards's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 45.7% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 120 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Richards against the rest of the country
Richards ranks lower within Texas (54th percentile statewide) than its 77th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Richards ranks 7,138 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,100 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 832 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
Richards and the insurance market
Richards's 77th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Richards (54.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 221 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Richards. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Richards, see the exposure-zones guide.