Star Lake, NY
Star Lake, NY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Star Lake at the 9th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 597 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Star Lake's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 9th percentile nationally.
Where Star Lake's buildings actually sit
89.5% of Star Lake's 597 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 534 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 9.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 1.2% are Minimal.
Star Lake against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Star Lake's 9th national percentile and its 22nd percentile inside New York, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Star Lake ranks 28,564 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,886 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,010 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
Star Lake's low wildfire rating (9th 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 Star Lake
Star Lake's 89.5% 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 Star Lake's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 597 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Star Lake. The exposure-zones guide covers what Star Lake's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.