South Bound Brook, NJ
South Bound Brook wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts South Bound Brook at the 18th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,338 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Bound Brook at the 19th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where South Bound Brook's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 94.5% of South Bound Brook's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 5.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
South Bound Brook against the rest of the country
South Bound Brook's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (4th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (18th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Bound Brook ranks 25,721 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,889 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 672 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
At the 18th national percentile, South Bound Brook rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
South Bound Brook's 94.5% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where South Bound Brook's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Bound Brook's 25,721-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Bound Brook's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.