South Bethlehem, PA
South Bethlehem, PA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
South Bethlehem's 289 buildings earn a 40th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Bethlehem at the 41st national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where South Bethlehem's buildings actually sit
Most of South Bethlehem's buildings (93.1%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where South Bethlehem ranks
Compare South Bethlehem's two percentiles: 64th within Pennsylvania, only 40th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Bethlehem ranks 18,827 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,950 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 724 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Bethlehem
South Bethlehem's elevated rating (40th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in South Bethlehem
Because 93.1% of South Bethlehem's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 289 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for South Bethlehem. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond South Bethlehem, see the exposure-zones guide.