Waltham, MA
Waltham, MA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Waltham lands at the 32nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 14,956 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waltham at the 28th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Waltham's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Waltham's buildings (91.6% of 14,956) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 14,956 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Waltham ranks
Waltham's 83rd-percentile standing inside Massachusetts outpaces its 32nd 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, Waltham ranks 21,584 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 993 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 42 of 248 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Massachusetts on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waltham
Waltham's moderate rating (32nd 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
With 91.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Waltham gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Waltham's 32nd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Waltham, see the exposure-zones guide.