South Plainfield, NJ
How exposed is South Plainfield to wildfire?
South Plainfield sits at the 25th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 8,570 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Plainfield at the 26th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 88.3% of South Plainfield's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 11.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 8,570 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How South Plainfield compares
South Plainfield scores 25th nationally and 14th within New Jersey — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Plainfield ranks 23,803 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,939 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 600 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Plainfield
At the 25th national percentile, South Plainfield rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in South Plainfield
With 88.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, South Plainfield gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
South Plainfield's 25th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond South Plainfield, see the exposure-zones guide.