Stamford, CT
Stamford wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Stamford lands at the 34th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 48,090 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Stamford at the 33rd national percentile — 2 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
55.1% of Stamford's 48,090 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 30.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 48,090 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Stamford against the rest of the country
Within Connecticut, Stamford ranks higher (60th percentile) than it does nationally (34th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stamford ranks 20,758 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 185 by building count (1 is largest). Within Connecticut alone, it ranks 86 of 214 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Connecticut on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 34th national percentile, Stamford 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
Stamford's 55.1% 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 Stamford's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Stamford's 20,758-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Stamford's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.