Elk Falls, KS
Elk Falls, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Elk Falls lands at the 95th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 122 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 Elk Falls at the 95th percentile, close to its 95th-percentile risk score.
Where Elk Falls's buildings actually sit
70.5% of Elk Falls's 122 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 86 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 29.5% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Elk Falls against the rest of the country
Elk Falls scores 95th nationally and 97th within Kansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elk Falls ranks 1,442 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,061 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 24 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Elk Falls's very high rating (95th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
Elk Falls's 70.5% 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 Elk Falls's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Elk Falls's 1,442-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Elk Falls's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.