Columbia, MD
Columbia wildfire risk explained
Columbia's 22,835 buildings earn a 15th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Columbia's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 14th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
55.8% of Columbia's 22,835 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 12,742 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 15.2% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 29% are Minimal. At 22,835 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Columbia compares
Columbia scores 15th nationally and 15th 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, Columbia ranks 26,722 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 581 by building count (1 is largest). Within Maryland alone, it ranks 449 of 527 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Maryland on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Columbia
At the 15th national percentile, Columbia rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Columbia's 55.8% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 22,835 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Columbia. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Columbia, see the exposure-zones guide.