Fargo, ND
Fargo, ND's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Fargo at the 41st national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 36,760 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 Fargo at the 42nd percentile, close to its 41st-percentile risk score.
Where Fargo's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 94.6% of Fargo's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 5.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 36,760 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Fargo against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Fargo's 41st national percentile and its 28th percentile inside North Dakota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fargo ranks 18,505 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 282 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 290 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Fargo
At the 41st national percentile, Fargo rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 94.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Fargo gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Fargo's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 36,760 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fargo. The exposure-zones guide covers what Fargo's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.