St. Michael, PA
St. Michael wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, St. Michael lands at the 34th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 271 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts St. Michael at the 34th percentile, close to its 34th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in St. Michael (61.6% of 271 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 38.4% sit in the Direct zone.
Where St. Michael ranks
St. Michael scores 34th nationally and 46th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Michael ranks 20,971 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,483 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,075 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
St. Michael and the insurance market
St. Michael's moderate wildfire rating (34th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
What would actually reduce this score
St. Michael's 61.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where St. Michael's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind St. Michael's 20,971-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what St. Michael's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.