Lower Berkshire Valley, NJ
Lower Berkshire Valley, NJ's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Lower Berkshire Valley sits at the 36th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 302 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Lower Berkshire Valley at the 34th percentile, close to its 36th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Lower Berkshire Valley's 302 counted buildings, 100% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Lower Berkshire Valley compares
Lower Berkshire Valley's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (36th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (36th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lower Berkshire Valley ranks 20,108 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,579 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 448 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Lower Berkshire Valley and the insurance market
Lower Berkshire Valley's moderate rating (36th 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Lower Berkshire Valley (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Lower Berkshire Valley's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lower Berkshire Valley's 20,108-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lower Berkshire Valley's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.