Appleton, MN
Appleton, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Appleton's 1,049 buildings earn a 78th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Appleton at the 70th percentile, close to its 78th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
90.7% of Appleton's 1,049 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 9.3% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Appleton against the rest of the country
Within Minnesota, Appleton ranks higher (97th percentile) than it does nationally (78th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Appleton ranks 6,897 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,600 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 28 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Appleton's high rating (78th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Appleton's 90.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Appleton's 6,897-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Appleton, see the exposure-zones guide.