Herald Harbor, MD
How exposed is Herald Harbor to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Herald Harbor at the 34th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 1,333 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Herald Harbor's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 34th percentile nationally.
Herald Harbor's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 85.3% of Herald Harbor's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 6.4% Indirect share and far above its 8.3% Minimal share — a profile where 1,137 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Herald Harbor compares
Herald Harbor's 52nd-percentile standing inside Maryland outpaces its 34th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Herald Harbor ranks 20,672 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,916 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 252 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
Herald Harbor's moderate wildfire rating (34th 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.
Hardening a home in Herald Harbor
Because Direct exposure dominates in Herald Harbor (85.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Herald Harbor's 20,672-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Herald Harbor, see the exposure-zones guide.