Jefferson, SD
Jefferson wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Jefferson at the 34th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 341 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Jefferson at the 29th national percentile — 5 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Jefferson's building exposure, zone by zone
Jefferson rates 88.6% Minimal exposure against just 11.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 341 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Jefferson compares
Jefferson ranks lower within South Dakota (7th percentile statewide) than its 34th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jefferson ranks 20,909 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,564 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 410 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
Jefferson's moderate wildfire rating (34th 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 88.6% of Jefferson 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.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Jefferson's 20,909-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Jefferson, see the exposure-zones guide.