Paola, KS
Paola wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Paola lands at the 55th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,602 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Paola's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 56th percentile nationally.
Paola's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Paola's buildings (85.7% of 2,602) 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.
Where Paola ranks
Paola scores 55th nationally and 42nd within Kansas — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Paola ranks 14,240 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,094 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 418 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
Paola's elevated rating (55th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 85.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Paola 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 Paola's 14,240-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Paola, see the exposure-zones guide.