Mercersville, MD
How exposed is Mercersville to wildfire?
USFS scores Mercersville at the 44th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 81 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Mercersville at the 46th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Mercersville's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Mercersville: 100% of its 81 buildings, versus 0% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Mercersville against the rest of the country
Compare Mercersville's two percentiles: 64th within Maryland, only 44th nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mercersville ranks 17,579 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,847 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 193 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Mercersville's elevated rating (44th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Mercersville's 100% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 81 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Mercersville. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Mercersville, see the exposure-zones guide.