St. Stephen, MN
St. Stephen wildfire risk explained
St. Stephen sits at the 68th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 533 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts St. Stephen at the 67th percentile, close to its 68th-percentile risk score.
Where St. Stephen's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in St. Stephen: 54.8% of its 533 buildings, versus 45.2% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where St. Stephen ranks
St. Stephen's 92nd-percentile standing inside Minnesota outpaces its 68th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Stephen ranks 10,214 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,825 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 76 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in St. Stephen
St. Stephen's high rating (68th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 54.8% of St. Stephen in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where St. Stephen's figures come from
St. Stephen's 68th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what St. Stephen's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.