Cressona, PA
Cressona, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cressona lands at the 51st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 747 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cressona at the 50th percentile, close to its 51st-percentile risk score.
Cressona's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 78.2% of Cressona's 747 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 21.8% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Cressona compares
Cressona's 83rd-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 51st national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cressona ranks 15,574 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,154 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 338 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Cressona and the insurance market
Cressona's elevated rating (51st 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
Cressona's 78.2% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cressona's 51st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Cressona, see the exposure-zones guide.