Sterling, KS
Sterling wildfire risk explained
Sterling's 1,350 buildings earn a 64th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm 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 Sterling at the 56th percentile, close to its 64th-percentile risk score.
Sterling's building exposure, zone by zone
88.5% of Sterling's 1,350 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 11.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Sterling compares
There's little gap between Sterling's 64th national percentile and its 59th percentile inside Kansas, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sterling ranks 11,309 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,828 by building count (1 is largest). Within Kansas alone, it ranks 297 of 721 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Kansas on its state page.
Sterling and the insurance market
Sterling's high rating (64th 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
Even with 88.5% of Sterling 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
Sterling's 64th-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 Sterling, see the exposure-zones guide.