Shark River Hills, NJ
Shark River Hills wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Shark River Hills at the 64th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,607 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 Shark River Hills at the 63rd percentile, close to its 64th-percentile risk score.
Where Shark River Hills's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 79.3% of Shark River Hills's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 20.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Shark River Hills compares
Shark River Hills's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (73rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (64th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Shark River Hills ranks 11,480 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,743 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 190 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Shark River Hills's high rating (64th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 79.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Shark River Hills gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Shark River Hills's figures come from
Shark River Hills's 64th-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 Shark River Hills's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.