Mount Arlington, NJ
Mount Arlington wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Mount Arlington at the 33rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,577 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Mount Arlington's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 31st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 53.5% of Mount Arlington's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 40.1% Indirect share and far above its 6.3% Minimal share — a profile where 844 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Mount Arlington compares
Mount Arlington scores 33rd nationally and 31st 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, Mount Arlington ranks 21,149 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,848 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 486 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Mount Arlington and the insurance market
Mount Arlington's moderate wildfire rating (33rd 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
Because Direct exposure dominates in Mount Arlington (53.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Mount Arlington's 21,149-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Mount Arlington, see the exposure-zones guide.