Rochester, NH
Rochester wildfire risk explained
Rochester sits at the 22nd 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 12,978 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Rochester at the 21st national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Rochester's building exposure, zone by zone
12,978 buildings are counted in Rochester, and 53.6% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 46.4% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal. At 12,978 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Rochester against the rest of the country
Within New Hampshire, Rochester ranks higher (73rd percentile) than it does nationally (22nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rochester ranks 24,459 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,172 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Hampshire alone, it ranks 28 of 100 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Hampshire on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rochester
At the 22nd national percentile, Rochester 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
Rochester's 53.6% 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.
More on how this number was built
Rochester's 22nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Rochester, see the exposure-zones guide.