Upton, MA
Upton wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Upton lands at the 40th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 1,154 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Upton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 37th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
1,154 buildings are counted in Upton, and 51.7% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 48.3% in Direct exposure or the 0.1% rated Minimal.
Where Upton ranks
Upton's 96th-percentile standing inside Massachusetts outpaces its 40th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Upton ranks 18,967 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,922 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 12 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
At the 40th national percentile, Upton 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
Because 51.7% of Upton's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Upton's 18,967-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Upton, see the exposure-zones guide.