Gann Valley, SD
Gann Valley wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Gann Valley lands at the 72nd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 32 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gann Valley's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 70th percentile nationally.
Where Gann Valley's buildings actually sit
Of Gann Valley's 32 counted buildings, 50% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Gann Valley ranks
Gann Valley scores 72nd nationally and 69th within South 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, Gann Valley ranks 8,835 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,334 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 136 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Gann Valley's 72nd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Gann Valley (50%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gann Valley's 8,835-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gann Valley, see the exposure-zones guide.