Elgin, KS
Elgin wildfire risk explained
Elgin sits at the 90th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 90 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Elgin at the 93rd national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Elgin's 90 counted buildings, 93.3% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Elgin against the rest of the country
Elgin's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kansas (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (90th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elgin ranks 3,118 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,494 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 69 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Elgin
At the 90th percentile nationally, Elgin carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Elgin (93.3%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elgin's 3,118-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Elgin, see the exposure-zones guide.