Metuchen, NJ
Metuchen, NJ's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Metuchen's 4,971 buildings earn a 25th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Metuchen at the 28th percentile, close to its 25th-percentile risk score.
Where Metuchen's buildings actually sit
Only 13.6% of Metuchen's 4,971 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 86.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Metuchen compares
Metuchen scores 25th nationally and 16th 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, Metuchen ranks 23,577 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,447 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 586 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Metuchen
Metuchen's moderate wildfire rating (25th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Metuchen
Even with 86.4% of Metuchen 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 Metuchen's figures come from
Metuchen's 25th-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 Metuchen's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.