Ferndale, MD
Ferndale, MD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Ferndale lands at the 20th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 4,745 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ferndale at the 21st national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
91.3% of Ferndale's 4,745 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 8.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Ferndale ranks
There's little gap between Ferndale's 20th national percentile and its 25th percentile inside Maryland, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ferndale ranks 25,180 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,598 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 396 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 20th national percentile, Ferndale rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 91.3% of Ferndale outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ferndale's 25,180-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Ferndale, see the exposure-zones guide.