Valier, MT
Valier, MT's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Valier at the 26th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 522 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Valier at the 24th percentile, close to its 26th-percentile risk score.
Where Valier's buildings actually sit
Most of Valier's buildings (64.4% of 522) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Valier compares
Valier's 26th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 4th ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 21 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Valier ranks 23,488 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,994 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 455 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Valier
Valier's moderate rating (26th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Valier's 64.4% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Valier's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Valier's 23,488-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Valier's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.