University Center, VA
How exposed is University Center to wildfire?
University Center sits at the 14th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 199 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts University Center at the 14th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
University Center's building exposure, zone by zone
98% of University Center's 199 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 2% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
University Center against the rest of the country
There's little gap between University Center's 14th national percentile and its 4th percentile inside Virginia, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, University Center ranks 27,151 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,910 by building count (1 is largest). Within Virginia alone, it ranks 651 of 681 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Virginia on its state page.
University Center and the insurance market
University Center's low wildfire rating (14th 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
Because 98% of University Center's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where University Center's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 199 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for University Center. The exposure-zones guide covers what University Center's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.