New Effington, SD
How exposed is New Effington to wildfire?
New Effington sits at the 68th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 181 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, New Effington's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 59th percentile nationally.
New Effington's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of New Effington's buildings (60.2% of 181) 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.
New Effington against the rest of the country
New Effington scores 68th nationally and 63rd within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, New Effington ranks 10,005 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,600 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 163 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
New Effington and the insurance market
New Effington's high rating (68th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
New Effington's 60.2% 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind New Effington's 10,005-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond New Effington, see the exposure-zones guide.