Rowley, MA
How exposed is Rowley to wildfire?
Rowley sits at the 33rd 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 786 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rowley's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 28th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 54.3% of Rowley's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 45.7% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 427 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Rowley against the rest of the country
Compare Rowley's two percentiles: 87th within Massachusetts, only 33rd nationally — a gap of 54 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rowley ranks 21,271 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,757 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 33 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Rowley and the insurance market
Rowley's moderate rating (33rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Rowley's 54.3% 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
Rowley's 33rd-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 Rowley, see the exposure-zones guide.