Arlington, SD
Arlington, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Arlington's 636 buildings earn a 37th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Arlington at the 33rd national percentile — 4 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
59.9% of Arlington's 636 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 40.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Arlington compares
Arlington's 37th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 10th ranking inside South Dakota does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Arlington ranks 20,024 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,396 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 397 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Arlington and the insurance market
Arlington's moderate rating (37th 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 59.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Arlington gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Arlington's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Arlington's 20,024-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Arlington's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.