Shaktoolik, AK
Shaktoolik wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Shaktoolik lands at the 46th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 109 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 Shaktoolik at the 51st percentile, close to its 46th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
109 buildings are counted in Shaktoolik, and 40.4% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 27.5% in Direct exposure or the 32.1% rated Minimal.
How Shaktoolik compares
There's little gap between Shaktoolik's 46th national percentile and its 36th percentile inside Alaska, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Shaktoolik ranks 16,913 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,646 by building count (1 is largest). Within Alaska alone, it ranks 208 of 322 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Alaska on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Shaktoolik's elevated rating (46th 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
Shaktoolik's 40.4% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Shaktoolik's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Shaktoolik's 16,913-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Shaktoolik's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.