Elizabeth, MN
How exposed is Elizabeth to wildfire?
USFS scores Elizabeth at the 43rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 153 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Elizabeth at the 40th percentile, close to its 43rd-percentile risk score.
Where Elizabeth's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Elizabeth (58.8% of 153 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 41.2% sit in the Direct zone.
How Elizabeth compares
Compare Elizabeth's two percentiles: 60th within Minnesota, only 43rd nationally — a gap of 17 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elizabeth ranks 17,990 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,756 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 367 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
Elizabeth's elevated wildfire rating (43rd 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 Elizabeth
Because 58.8% of Elizabeth's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Elizabeth's figures come from
Elizabeth's 43rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Elizabeth's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.