De Soto, WI
De Soto wildfire risk explained
De Soto's 310 buildings earn a 36th-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 De Soto at the 38th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where De Soto's buildings actually sit
70% of De Soto's 310 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 217 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 29.4% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0.7% are Minimal.
How De Soto compares
Within Wisconsin, De Soto ranks higher (85th percentile) than it does nationally (36th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, De Soto ranks 20,126 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,381 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 123 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in De Soto
De Soto's moderate wildfire rating (36th 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
De Soto's 70% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where De Soto's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind De Soto's 20,126-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.