Marlborough, MA
Marlborough wildfire risk explained
Marlborough sits at the 35th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 11,690 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Marlborough's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 30th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Marlborough's buildings (44.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone. At 11,690 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Marlborough ranks
Marlborough's 90th-percentile standing inside Massachusetts outpaces its 35th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Marlborough ranks 20,638 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,340 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 27 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Marlborough and the insurance market
At the 35th national percentile, Marlborough 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
Marlborough's 44.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Marlborough's figures come from
Marlborough's 35th-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 Marlborough's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.