Sturgeon Lake, MN
Sturgeon Lake, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Sturgeon Lake lands at the 44th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 383 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sturgeon Lake at the 42nd national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Sturgeon Lake's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 72.1% of Sturgeon Lake's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 27.9% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 276 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Sturgeon Lake compares
Within Minnesota, Sturgeon Lake ranks higher (63rd percentile) than it does nationally (44th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sturgeon Lake ranks 17,685 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,564 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 343 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Sturgeon Lake's elevated wildfire rating (44th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Sturgeon Lake's 72.1% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 383 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sturgeon Lake. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Sturgeon Lake, see the exposure-zones guide.