Emsworth, PA
Emsworth, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Emsworth sits at the 28th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,003 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Emsworth at the 28th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Emsworth (88.2% of 1,003 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 11.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Where Emsworth ranks
Emsworth scores 28th nationally and 35th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Emsworth ranks 22,613 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,914 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,302 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Emsworth and the insurance market
Emsworth's moderate wildfire rating (28th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Emsworth's 88.2% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Emsworth's 22,613-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Emsworth, see the exposure-zones guide.