De Soto, KS
De Soto wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, De Soto lands at the 53rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,805 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts De Soto at the 55th percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
Where De Soto's buildings actually sit
2,805 buildings are counted in De Soto, and 52% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 35.9% rated Minimal.
De Soto against the rest of the country
There's little gap between De Soto's 53rd national percentile and its 39th percentile inside Kansas, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, De Soto ranks 14,683 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,756 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 442 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in De Soto
At the 53rd national percentile, De Soto rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 52% of De Soto 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 De Soto's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind De Soto's 14,683-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what De Soto's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.