Cottonwood, SD
How exposed is Cottonwood to wildfire?
USFS scores Cottonwood at the 76th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 34 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cottonwood at the 74th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cottonwood's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 100% of Cottonwood's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 34 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Where Cottonwood ranks
Cottonwood's risk sits at a similar level relative to South Dakota (74th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (76th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cottonwood ranks 7,508 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,304 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 114 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Cottonwood and the insurance market
Cottonwood'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.
Hardening a home in Cottonwood
With 100% of Cottonwood in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Cottonwood's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cottonwood's 7,508-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cottonwood's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.