Stony Brook, NY
How exposed is Stony Brook to wildfire?
Stony Brook's 5,177 buildings earn a 34th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Stony Brook at the 35th percentile, close to its 34th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 58.6% of Stony Brook's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 7.1% Indirect share and far above its 34.3% Minimal share — a profile where 3,036 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most. At 5,177 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Stony Brook ranks
Compare Stony Brook's two percentiles: 73rd within New York, only 34th nationally — a gap of 39 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stony Brook ranks 20,864 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,324 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 354 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Stony Brook
Stony Brook'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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Stony Brook (58.6%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Stony Brook's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Stony Brook's 20,864-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Stony Brook's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.