Watertown, NY
Watertown, NY's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Watertown sits at the 8th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 9,543 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Watertown's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 8th percentile nationally.
Where Watertown's buildings actually sit
Only 4.2% of Watertown's 9,543 buildings carry Direct exposure and 4.3% carry Indirect; the remaining 91.6% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 9,543 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Watertown against the rest of the country
Watertown scores 8th nationally and 16th within New York — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Watertown ranks 29,133 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,708 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,094 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
Watertown's low rating (8th 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
With 91.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Watertown gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 9,543 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Watertown. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Watertown, see the exposure-zones guide.