Howard Lake, MN
How exposed is Howard Lake to wildfire?
Howard Lake's 1,053 buildings earn a 22nd-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 Howard Lake at the 18th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Howard Lake's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 88% of Howard Lake's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 12% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Howard Lake compares
Howard Lake's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (26th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (22nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Howard Lake ranks 24,585 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,578 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 681 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Howard Lake and the insurance market
Howard Lake's moderate rating (22nd 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 88% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Howard Lake gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,053 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Howard Lake. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Howard Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.