Highlands, NJ
How exposed is Highlands to wildfire?
Highlands's 1,820 buildings earn a 66th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Highlands at the 64th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Highlands rates 94.9% Minimal exposure against just 5.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,820 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Highlands against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Highlands's 66th national percentile and its 74th percentile inside New Jersey, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Highlands ranks 10,876 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,004 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 180 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Highlands
At the 66th percentile nationally, Highlands carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 94.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Highlands gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Highlands's 66th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Highlands, see the exposure-zones guide.