North East, PA
How exposed is North East to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, North East lands at the 19th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,777 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North East at the 19th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where North East's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 85.9% of North East's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 10.2% Direct and 3.8% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How North East compares
North East scores 19th nationally and 21st 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, North East ranks 25,477 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,135 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,582 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
North East and the insurance market
North East's low wildfire rating (19th 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 North East
Even with 85.9% of North East 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 North East's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind North East's 25,477-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what North East's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.