Sturgis, SD
Sturgis, SD's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Sturgis at the 89th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 3,767 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Sturgis at the 89th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Sturgis's buildings (84.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Where Sturgis ranks
Sturgis scores 89th nationally and 91st within South Dakota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sturgis ranks 3,571 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,455 by building count (1 is largest). Within South Dakota alone, it ranks 42 of 439 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for South Dakota on its state page.
Sturgis and the insurance market
Sturgis's 89th-percentile, very high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in Sturgis
Sturgis's 84.6% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Sturgis's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,767 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sturgis. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sturgis's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.