Baltimore Highlands, MD
Baltimore Highlands wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Baltimore Highlands at the 19th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 1,618 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Baltimore Highlands at the 20th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 91.7% of Baltimore Highlands's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 8.3% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Baltimore Highlands compares
Baltimore Highlands's risk sits at a similar level relative to Maryland (24th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (19th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Baltimore Highlands ranks 25,404 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,702 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 400 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 19th national percentile, Baltimore Highlands rates low 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 91.7% of Baltimore Highlands 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.
Where Baltimore Highlands's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Baltimore Highlands's 25,404-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Baltimore Highlands's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.