Leota, MN
Leota, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Leota sits at the 3rd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 231 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Leota at the 3rd national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 27.3% of Leota's 231 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 72.7% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Leota ranks
Leota scores 3rd nationally and 5th within Minnesota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Leota ranks 30,490 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,765 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 869 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Leota and the insurance market
Leota'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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 72.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Leota gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Leota's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Leota's 30,490-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Leota's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.