University Park, MD
How exposed is University Park to wildfire?
USFS scores University Park at the 23rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,031 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (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 Park at the 24th percentile, close to its 23rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
University Park rates 71.7% Minimal exposure against just 28.3% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,031 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
University Park against the rest of the country
University Park scores 23rd nationally and 32nd within Maryland — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, University Park ranks 24,233 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,717 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 358 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
University Park and the insurance market
At the 23rd national percentile, University Park rates moderate for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 71.7% of University Park outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,031 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for University Park. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond University Park, see the exposure-zones guide.