Newburyport, MA
How exposed is Newburyport to wildfire?
Newburyport's 6,677 buildings earn a 29th-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 Newburyport at the 25th national percentile — 4 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
6,677 buildings are counted in Newburyport, and 65.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 6.3% in Direct exposure or the 28.4% rated Minimal. At 6,677 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Newburyport against the rest of the country
Within Massachusetts, Newburyport ranks higher (70th percentile) than it does nationally (29th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Newburyport ranks 22,501 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,596 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 75 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 29th national percentile, Newburyport 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Newburyport (65.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Newburyport's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 6,677 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Newburyport. The exposure-zones guide covers what Newburyport's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.