Benson, MN
Benson wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Benson at the 56th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,991 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Benson at the 52nd percentile, close to its 56th-percentile risk score.
Where Benson's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 83.2% of Benson's 1,991 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 5.5% Direct and 11.3% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Benson ranks
Compare Benson's two percentiles: 82nd within Minnesota, only 56th nationally — a gap of 26 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Benson ranks 13,993 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,512 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 170 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Benson
Benson's elevated rating (56th 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
Because 83.2% of Benson's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Benson's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Benson's 13,993-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Benson's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.