Sioux Falls, SD
Sioux Falls wildfire risk explained
Sioux Falls's 64,001 buildings earn a 54th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Sioux Falls at the 53rd percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
Where Sioux Falls's buildings actually sit
Sioux Falls rates 88% Minimal exposure against just 12% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 64,001 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually. At 64,001 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Sioux Falls compares
Sioux Falls ranks lower within South Dakota (35th percentile statewide) than its 54th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sioux Falls ranks 14,667 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 122 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 285 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Sioux Falls
At the 54th national percentile, Sioux Falls rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Sioux Falls's 88% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 64,001 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sioux Falls. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Sioux Falls, see the exposure-zones guide.