Howard, KS
Howard, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Howard lands at the 90th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 634 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Howard's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 89th percentile nationally.
Howard's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Howard's buildings (77.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Howard compares
Howard's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kansas (91st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (90th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Howard ranks 3,082 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,415 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 66 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Howard
Howard's 90th-percentile, very 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 77.4% of Howard's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Howard's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Howard's 3,082-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Howard's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.