Rico, CO
Rico, CO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Rico at the 93rd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 276 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rico's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Where Rico's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 58.3% of Rico's 276 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 41.7% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Rico ranks
Rico's risk sits at a similar level relative to Colorado (82nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (93rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rico ranks 2,203 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,314 by building count (1 is largest). Within Colorado alone, it ranks 91 of 472 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Colorado on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rico
Rico's 93rd-percentile, very 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 58.3% of Rico'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 Rico's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 276 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Rico. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rico's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.