Mount Union, PA
Mount Union wildfire risk explained
Mount Union sits at the 51st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,165 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Mount Union at the 50th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Mount Union's building exposure, zone by zone
1,165 buildings are counted in Mount Union, and 90.6% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 9.4% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
How Mount Union compares
Mount Union's 84th-percentile standing inside Pennsylvania outpaces its 51st national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mount Union ranks 15,426 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,871 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 325 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Mount Union's elevated rating (51st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Mount Union's 90.6% 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 Mount Union's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Mount Union's 15,426-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Mount Union's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.