Elwood, NJ
How exposed is Elwood to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Elwood lands at the 91st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 603 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Elwood's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Elwood's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 84.1% of Elwood's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 15.9% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 507 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Elwood ranks
There's little gap between Elwood's 91st national percentile and its 96th percentile inside New Jersey, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elwood ranks 2,958 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,801 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 30 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Elwood's very high rating (91st percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Elwood
Elwood's 84.1% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elwood's 2,958-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Elwood, see the exposure-zones guide.