North Ballston Spa, NY
North Ballston Spa wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, North Ballston Spa lands at the 20th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 620 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks North Ballston Spa at the 20th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where North Ballston Spa's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in North Ballston Spa: 59.5% of its 620 buildings, versus 18.6% Indirect and 21.9% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How North Ballston Spa compares
Compare North Ballston Spa's two percentiles: 44th within New York, only 20th nationally — a gap of 25 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, North Ballston Spa ranks 25,347 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,559 by building count (1 is largest). Within New York alone, it ranks 717 of 1,289 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New York on its state page.
North Ballston Spa and the insurance market
North Ballston Spa's low rating (20th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
North Ballston Spa's 59.5% 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
North Ballston Spa's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond North Ballston Spa, see the exposure-zones guide.