Ellsworth, MN
Ellsworth wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Ellsworth at the 13th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 385 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ellsworth's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 11th percentile nationally.
Ellsworth's building exposure, zone by zone
Ellsworth rates 81% Minimal exposure against just 19% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 385 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Ellsworth compares
There's little gap between Ellsworth's 13th national percentile and its 17th percentile inside Minnesota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellsworth ranks 27,297 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,524 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 756 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
Ellsworth's low wildfire rating (13th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Ellsworth's 81% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Ellsworth's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 385 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Ellsworth. The exposure-zones guide covers what Ellsworth's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.