Gloucester, NC
How exposed is Gloucester to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Gloucester at the 92nd national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 417 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gloucester's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Where Gloucester's buildings actually sit
Of Gloucester's 417 counted buildings, 93.8% carry Direct exposure and only 3.1% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Gloucester against the rest of the country
Gloucester scores 92nd nationally and 99th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gloucester ranks 2,654 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,889 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 12 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Gloucester's very high rating (92nd 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Gloucester's 93.8% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 417 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Gloucester. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gloucester, see the exposure-zones guide.