Lowell, MA
How exposed is Lowell to wildfire?
Lowell's 22,280 buildings earn a 28th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lowell at the 23rd national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
84.1% of Lowell's 22,280 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 22,280 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Lowell against the rest of the country
Compare Lowell's two percentiles: 64th within Massachusetts, only 28th nationally — a gap of 37 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lowell ranks 22,720 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 607 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 89 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 28th national percentile, Lowell rates moderate 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
Even with 84.1% of Lowell 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 Lowell's figures come from
Lowell's 28th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lowell's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.