Ellendale, ND
How exposed is Ellendale to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Ellendale lands at the 47th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,004 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ellendale at the 46th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Ellendale's buildings actually sit
Most of Ellendale's buildings (79.3% of 1,004) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
How Ellendale compares
Ellendale scores 47th nationally and 43rd within North Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellendale ranks 16,838 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,906 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 230 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Ellendale's elevated rating (47th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 79.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Ellendale gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Ellendale's 47th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Ellendale, see the exposure-zones guide.