Philadelphia, NY
Philadelphia wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Philadelphia at the 7th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 460 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Philadelphia at the 8th percentile, close to its 7th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
68.3% of Philadelphia's 460 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 31.7% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Philadelphia against the rest of the country
Philadelphia's risk sits at a similar level relative to New York (14th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (7th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Philadelphia ranks 29,260 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,061 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 1,112 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Philadelphia
Philadelphia's low rating (7th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Philadelphia (68.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Philadelphia's 7th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Philadelphia, see the exposure-zones guide.