Valley City, ND
How exposed is Valley City to wildfire?
Valley City sits at the 65th 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 3,503 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 Valley City at the 58th percentile, close to its 65th-percentile risk score.
Valley City's building exposure, zone by zone
3,503 buildings are counted in Valley City, and 87.2% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 12.8% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Valley City against the rest of the country
Valley City's 81st-percentile standing inside North Dakota outpaces its 65th 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, Valley City ranks 11,197 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,767 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 77 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
Valley City and the insurance market
Valley City's high rating (65th 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
Because 87.2% of Valley City's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Valley City's figures come from
Valley City's 65th-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 Valley City's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.