Franklin Lakes, NJ
Franklin Lakes wildfire risk explained
Franklin Lakes sits at the 31st 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 4,171 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Franklin Lakes at the 30th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Franklin Lakes's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in Franklin Lakes: 84.4% of its 4,171 buildings, versus 14.4% Indirect and 1.2% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Franklin Lakes ranks
Franklin Lakes's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (26th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (31st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Franklin Lakes ranks 21,906 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,080 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 517 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Franklin Lakes and the insurance market
Franklin Lakes's moderate rating (31st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Franklin Lakes's 84.4% 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.
Where Franklin Lakes's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Franklin Lakes's 21,906-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Franklin Lakes's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.