Hill City, MN
How exposed is Hill City to wildfire?
Hill City sits at the 46th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 459 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Hill City at the 47th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Hill City's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 68.9% of Hill City's 459 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 30.5% Direct and 0.7% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Hill City compares
Within Minnesota, Hill City ranks higher (69th percentile) than it does nationally (46th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hill City ranks 16,933 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,077 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 289 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Hill City
Hill City's elevated rating (46th 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
Hill City's 68.9% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Hill City's figures come from
Hill City's 46th-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 Hill City's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.