Lake Crystal, MN
Lake Crystal, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lake Crystal at the 9th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 1,197 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lake Crystal's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 7th percentile nationally.
Lake Crystal's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Lake Crystal's buildings (85% of 1,197) 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.
Lake Crystal against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Lake Crystal's 9th national percentile and its 12th percentile inside Minnesota, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Crystal ranks 28,720 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,662 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 802 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Lake Crystal and the insurance market
Lake Crystal's low wildfire rating (9th 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 85% of Lake Crystal 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,197 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lake Crystal. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Lake Crystal, see the exposure-zones guide.