Kettle River, MN
Kettle River, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Kettle River's 172 buildings earn a 43rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Kettle River's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 44th percentile nationally.
Kettle River's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Kettle River's 172 counted buildings, 50.6% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Kettle River compares
Kettle River's 61st-percentile standing inside Minnesota outpaces its 43rd national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kettle River ranks 17,901 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,941 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 362 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Kettle River's elevated rating (43rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Kettle River's 50.6% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where Kettle River's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kettle River's 17,901-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kettle River's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.