McSherrystown, PA
McSherrystown wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, McSherrystown lands at the 4th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,076 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 McSherrystown at the 4th percentile, close to its 4th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
95.9% of McSherrystown's 1,076 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 4.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How McSherrystown compares
McSherrystown scores 4th nationally and 1st within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, McSherrystown ranks 30,400 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,425 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,968 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
McSherrystown and the insurance market
At the 4th national percentile, McSherrystown rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in McSherrystown
McSherrystown's 95.9% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,076 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for McSherrystown. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond McSherrystown, see the exposure-zones guide.