Wheaton, MN
Wheaton, MN's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Wheaton at the 22nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,095 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wheaton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 16th percentile nationally.
Wheaton's building exposure, zone by zone
86.9% of Wheaton's 1,095 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 13.2% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Wheaton against the rest of the country
Wheaton scores 22nd nationally and 26th 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, Wheaton ranks 24,488 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,308 by building count (1 is largest). Within Minnesota alone, it ranks 678 of 914 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Minnesota on its state page.
Wheaton and the insurance market
Wheaton's moderate wildfire rating (22nd 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 86.9% of Wheaton 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
Wheaton's 22nd-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 Wheaton, see the exposure-zones guide.