La Crosse, WI
La Crosse wildfire risk explained
La Crosse's 19,998 buildings earn a 28th-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 La Crosse at the 30th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where La Crosse's buildings actually sit
19,998 buildings are counted in La Crosse, and 49.8% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 2.3% in Direct exposure or the 48% rated Minimal. At 19,998 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where La Crosse ranks
Compare La Crosse's two percentiles: 60th within Wisconsin, only 28th nationally — a gap of 31 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, La Crosse ranks 22,615 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 702 by building count (1 is largest). Within Wisconsin alone, it ranks 327 of 808 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Wisconsin on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
La Crosse's moderate wildfire rating (28th 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in La Crosse (49.8% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where La Crosse's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind La Crosse's 22,615-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what La Crosse's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.