Dawson, MN
Dawson, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Dawson at the 13th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 996 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Dawson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 10th percentile nationally.
Where Dawson's buildings actually sit
Dawson rates 90.3% Minimal exposure against just 9.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 996 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Dawson against the rest of the country
Dawson's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (17th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (13th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dawson ranks 27,361 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,963 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 758 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
Dawson's low wildfire rating (13th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Dawson's 90.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Dawson's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Dawson's 27,361-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Dawson's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.