South Yarmouth, MA
South Yarmouth, MA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
South Yarmouth sits at the 24th 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 7,965 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Yarmouth at the 15th national percentile — 8 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where South Yarmouth's buildings actually sit
Only 2.6% of South Yarmouth's 7,965 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 97.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 7,965 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How South Yarmouth compares
South Yarmouth's risk sits at a similar level relative to Massachusetts (36th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (24th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Yarmouth ranks 24,106 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,125 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 158 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
South Yarmouth's moderate rating (24th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in South Yarmouth
South Yarmouth's 97.4% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where South Yarmouth's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Yarmouth's 24,106-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Yarmouth's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.