Ellinwood, KS
Ellinwood, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Ellinwood lands at the 47th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,410 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 Ellinwood at the 43rd percentile, close to its 47th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Ellinwood's buildings (96.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Ellinwood against the rest of the country
Ellinwood's 47th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 26th ranking inside Kansas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 21 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellinwood ranks 16,574 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,587 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 534 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
Ellinwood's elevated wildfire rating (47th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Ellinwood (96.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ellinwood's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Ellinwood's 16,574-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ellinwood's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.