Merriam, KS
Merriam, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Merriam sits at the 34th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,319 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Merriam's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 36th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 15.7% of Merriam's 4,319 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 84.4% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Merriam ranks
Merriam's 34th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 12th ranking inside Kansas does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 22 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Merriam ranks 20,825 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,966 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 635 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 34th national percentile, Merriam rates moderate 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 Merriam
With 84.4% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Merriam 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 Merriam's 20,825-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Merriam, see the exposure-zones guide.