Woods Hole, MA
Woods Hole, MA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Woods Hole at the 16th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,298 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Woods Hole's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 13th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Woods Hole: 52.9% of its 1,298 buildings, versus 0.1% Indirect and 47% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Woods Hole against the rest of the country
Woods Hole's risk sits at a similar level relative to Massachusetts (9th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (16th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Woods Hole ranks 26,598 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,083 by building count (1 is largest). Within Massachusetts alone, it ranks 227 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
Woods Hole's low rating (16th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Woods Hole's 52.9% 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.
Where Woods Hole's figures come from
Woods Hole's 16th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Woods Hole's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.