Mahaska, KS
How exposed is Mahaska to wildfire?
Mahaska sits at the 54th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 94 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Mahaska at the 50th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
Where Mahaska's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 68.1% of Mahaska's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 31.9% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Mahaska ranks
Mahaska's risk sits at a similar level relative to Kansas (41st percentile statewide) as it does nationally (54th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Mahaska ranks 14,401 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,309 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 427 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 54th national percentile, Mahaska rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Mahaska
Mahaska's 68.1% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Mahaska's 54th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Mahaska, see the exposure-zones guide.