Elba, MN
Elba wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Elba at the 29th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 160 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Elba at the 29th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Elba's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 82.5% of Elba's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 17.5% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 132 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Elba against the rest of the country
Elba's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (35th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (29th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elba ranks 22,468 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,432 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 595 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Elba and the insurance market
Elba's moderate wildfire rating (29th 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.
Hardening a home in Elba
Elba's 82.5% 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 Elba's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elba's 22,468-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Elba's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.