Moorhead, MN
Moorhead wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Moorhead lands at the 43rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 14,733 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Moorhead at the 43rd percentile, close to its 43rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 88.9% of Moorhead's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 11.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one. At 14,733 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Moorhead ranks
Within Minnesota, Moorhead ranks higher (59th percentile) than it does nationally (43rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Moorhead ranks 18,117 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,006 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 376 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Moorhead and the insurance market
At the 43rd national percentile, Moorhead rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 88.9% of Moorhead 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 14,733 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Moorhead. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Moorhead, see the exposure-zones guide.