Garfield, MN
Garfield, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Garfield sits at the 39th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 277 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Garfield's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 38th percentile nationally.
Garfield's building exposure, zone by zone
59.6% of Garfield's 277 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 40.4% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Garfield ranks
There's little gap between Garfield's 39th national percentile and its 51st percentile inside Minnesota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garfield ranks 19,344 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,295 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 445 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Garfield and the insurance market
Garfield's moderate wildfire rating (39th 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
Even with 59.6% of Garfield outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Garfield's figures come from
Garfield's 39th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Garfield's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.