Lafayette, MN
Lafayette, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Lafayette at the 3rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 357 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lafayette's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 3rd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Lafayette's buildings (87.7% of 357) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Lafayette against the rest of the country
Lafayette's risk sits at a similar level relative to Minnesota (5th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (3rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lafayette ranks 30,520 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,132 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 871 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Lafayette and the insurance market
Lafayette's low rating (3rd 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 87.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Lafayette 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lafayette's 30,520-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Lafayette, see the exposure-zones guide.