Kingston, MA
Kingston wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Kingston at the 19th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 2,896 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Kingston's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 16th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 25.5% of Kingston's 2,896 buildings carry Direct exposure and 25.3% carry Indirect; the remaining 49.3% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Kingston against the rest of the country
Kingston's risk sits at a similar level relative to Massachusetts (19th 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, Kingston ranks 25,528 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,590 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 201 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Kingston and the insurance market
Kingston's low rating (19th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Kingston
With 49.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Kingston gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Kingston's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kingston's 25,528-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kingston's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.