Belmont, PA
Belmont wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Belmont at the 36th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,247 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Belmont at the 35th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Belmont's buildings actually sit
1,247 buildings are counted in Belmont, and 55.7% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 44.4% rated Minimal.
Where Belmont ranks
Compare Belmont's two percentiles: 51st within Pennsylvania, only 36th nationally — a gap of 16 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Belmont ranks 20,304 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,363 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 970 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Belmont's moderate wildfire rating (36th 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 Belmont
Because Direct exposure dominates in Belmont (55.7%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Belmont's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,247 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Belmont. The exposure-zones guide covers what Belmont's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.