Spencer, SD
How exposed is Spencer to wildfire?
USFS scores Spencer at the 46th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 114 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Spencer's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 45th percentile nationally.
Spencer's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 53.5% of Spencer's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 46.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Spencer ranks
Inside South Dakota, Spencer sits at just the 24th percentile even though it scores 46th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Spencer ranks 16,940 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,476 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 336 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 46th national percentile, Spencer 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
Even with 53.5% of Spencer 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.
More on how this number was built
Spencer's 46th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Spencer, see the exposure-zones guide.