Hightstown, NJ
Hightstown wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Hightstown lands at the 53rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,769 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Hightstown at the 53rd percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Hightstown rates 79.5% Minimal exposure against just 20.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,769 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Hightstown compares
Hightstown scores 53rd nationally and 61st within New Jersey — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hightstown ranks 14,978 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,156 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 276 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Hightstown and the insurance market
Hightstown's elevated rating (53rd 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
Even with 79.5% of Hightstown outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Hightstown's figures come from
Hightstown's 53rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hightstown's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.