Salina, KS
Salina, KS's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Salina sits at the 54th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 21,235 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Salina at the 48th national percentile — 6 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
97% of Salina's 21,235 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 3% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 21,235 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Salina against the rest of the country
Salina scores 54th nationally and 39th 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, Salina ranks 14,622 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 655 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 440 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
Salina's elevated rating (54th 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
Even with 97% of Salina 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.
Where Salina's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Salina's 14,622-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Salina's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.