Herkimer, NY
How exposed is Herkimer to wildfire?
Herkimer's 2,767 buildings earn a 6th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Herkimer's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 6th percentile nationally.
Herkimer's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 90.9% of Herkimer's 2,767 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 9.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Herkimer against the rest of the country
Herkimer's risk sits at a similar level relative to New York (10th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (6th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Herkimer ranks 29,571 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,825 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,158 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Herkimer's low rating (6th 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
Herkimer's 90.9% 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 Herkimer's 29,571-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Herkimer, see the exposure-zones guide.