Highmore, SD
Highmore, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Highmore at the 71st national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 717 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Highmore at the 70th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Highmore's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 75.6% of Highmore's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 22.9% Direct and 1.5% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Highmore ranks
Highmore scores 71st 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, Highmore ranks 9,026 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,498 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 140 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
At the 71st percentile nationally, Highmore carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Highmore
Highmore's 75.6% 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 Highmore's figures come from
Highmore's 71st-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 Highmore's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.