Tajique, NM
Tajique wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Tajique lands at the 95th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 116 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Tajique's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 93rd percentile nationally.
Where Tajique's buildings actually sit
Of Tajique's 116 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Tajique ranks
Tajique's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Mexico (85th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (95th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tajique ranks 1,518 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,373 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 75 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
Tajique and the insurance market
Tajique's 95th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Tajique (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Tajique's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Tajique's 1,518-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Tajique's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.