Sweetwater, NJ
How exposed is Sweetwater to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Sweetwater lands at the 92nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 443 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 Sweetwater at the 91st percentile, close to its 92nd-percentile risk score.
Sweetwater's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Sweetwater: 80.6% of its 443 buildings, versus 14.9% Indirect and 4.5% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Sweetwater ranks
Sweetwater's risk sits at a similar level relative to New Jersey (97th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (92nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sweetwater ranks 2,653 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,400 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Jersey alone, it ranks 23 of 700 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Jersey on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Sweetwater
Sweetwater's very high rating (92nd percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Sweetwater (80.6%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Sweetwater's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sweetwater's 2,653-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sweetwater's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.