Morgantown, PA
Morgantown wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Morgantown lands at the 12th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 517 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Morgantown at the 10th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Morgantown's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 73.9% of Morgantown's 517 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 26.1% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Morgantown ranks
Morgantown scores 12th nationally and 11th 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, Morgantown ranks 27,651 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,077 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,778 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Morgantown
Morgantown's low wildfire rating (12th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Morgantown's 73.9% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Morgantown's figures come from
Morgantown's 12th-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 Morgantown's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.