Nowthen, MN
Nowthen, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Nowthen lands at the 59th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 3,383 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 Nowthen at the 56th percentile, close to its 59th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Nowthen: 93.3% of its 3,383 buildings, versus 1.8% Indirect and 4.9% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Nowthen against the rest of the country
Compare Nowthen's two percentiles: 85th within Minnesota, only 59th nationally — a gap of 26 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Nowthen ranks 13,082 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,936 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 141 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Nowthen's elevated rating (59th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Nowthen's 93.3% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,383 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Nowthen. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Nowthen, see the exposure-zones guide.