Arkansas City, KS
How exposed is Arkansas City to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Arkansas City lands at the 76th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 6,901 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Arkansas City at the 71st national percentile — 5 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
6,901 buildings are counted in Arkansas City, and 76.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 12.6% in Direct exposure or the 11% rated Minimal. At 6,901 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Arkansas City compares
Arkansas City scores 76th nationally and 74th within Kansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Arkansas City ranks 7,435 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,509 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 192 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Arkansas City and the insurance market
Arkansas City's high rating (76th 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
Arkansas City's 76.4% 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.
Where Arkansas City's figures come from
Arkansas City's 76th-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 Arkansas City's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.