Garden City, SD
Garden City wildfire risk explained
Garden City's 76 buildings earn a 35th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Garden City at the 32nd national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
63.2% of Garden City's 76 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 48 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 36.8% are Minimal.
Where Garden City ranks
Garden City's 35th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 8th ranking inside South Dakota does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garden City ranks 20,593 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,061 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 404 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
Garden City's moderate rating (35th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 63.2% of Garden City in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Garden City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 76 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Garden City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Garden City's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.