Watkins, MN
Watkins, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Watkins's 502 buildings earn a 14th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Watkins at the 11th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 4.4% of Watkins's 502 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 95.6% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Watkins compares
Watkins scores 14th nationally and 19th within Minnesota — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Watkins ranks 26,951 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,314 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 746 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
Watkins's low wildfire rating (14th 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
Even with 95.6% of Watkins 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.
Where Watkins's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 502 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Watkins. The exposure-zones guide covers what Watkins's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.