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US Counties With the Highest Expected Yearly Wildfire Loss

3,144 US counties ranked by expected yearly wildfire loss, from highest to lowest. First are Elko County, NV (470), Boise County, ID (407) and Adams County, ID (320). The middle one of the 3,144 has 0.599.

What this measures

The damage wildfires are expected to do to buildings in an average year, in dollars for every $100,000 that the buildings are worth. FEMA works it out from a national map of how likely land is to burn and how much damage past fires did. Source: FEMA National Risk Index.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

RankCounty$ per $100,000 of buildings
1Elko County, NV470
2Boise County, ID407
3Adams County, ID320
4Kittitas County, WA317
5Comanche County, KS301
6Mariposa County, CA298
7Sierra County, CA296
8Trinity County, CA296
9Idaho County, ID252
10Mora County, NM252
11Catron County, NM245
12Oglala Lakota County, SD235
13Elmore County, ID224
14Storey County, NV223
15Teller County, CO218
16Washington County, UT212
17Lincoln County, NM211
18Klickitat County, WA206
19Ravalli County, MT199
20Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK198
21Calaveras County, CA197
22Humboldt County, NV197
23Roosevelt County, NM196
24Tuolumne County, CA186
25Wasco County, OR177
26Chelan County, WA175
27Okanogan County, WA175
28Ferry County, WA173
29Eureka County, NV169
30Gem County, ID160
31Wheeler County, OR159
32Valley County, ID159
33Sherman County, OR157
34Clearwater County, ID149
35Amador County, CA146
36Roberts County, TX141
37Clear Creek County, CO138
38Plumas County, CA136
39Lake County, CA135
40Custer County, SD133
41Alpine County, CA131
42Gila County, AZ131
43Gilliam County, OR130
44Harney County, OR124
45Josephine County, OR120
46Colfax County, NM119
47Hemphill County, TX118
48Siskiyou County, CA116
49Nevada County, CA114
50Clark County, KS111
51Tooele County, UT110
52Lander County, NV107
53Lincoln County, ID106
54El Dorado County, CA105
55Tehama County, CA104
56Barber County, KS103
57Juab County, UT103
58Lassen County, CA102
59Park County, CO101
60Denali Borough, AK99.8
61Elk County, KS98.8
62Powder River County, MT98.5
63Washington County, ID98.1
64Lincoln County, WA97
65Chautauqua County, KS96.6
66Iron County, UT95.9
67Wheeler County, TX94.2
68Owyhee County, ID93.2
69Santa Cruz County, AZ93
70Irion County, TX88.5
71Camas County, ID83.9
72Coconino County, AZ83.9
73Shasta County, CA80.4
74Bennett County, SD80.3
75Union County, NM79.5
76Riverside County, CA78.2
77Summit County, UT78
78Otero County, NM77.8
79Jeff Davis County, TX77.4
80Roger Mills County, OK77.2
81Motley County, TX75.8
82Grant County, OR75.3
83Cochise County, AZ75.1
84Meade County, KS74.9
85Douglas County, NV74
86Harding County, SD73.2
87Wasatch County, UT73.2
88Lemhi County, ID73.1
89San Diego County, CA73
90Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK72.1
91Madera County, CA70.6
92Musselshell County, MT70.5
93Rosebud County, MT70.4
94Lincoln County, MT69.7
95Haskell County, OK69.4
96Copper River Census Area, AK68.9
97Meade County, SD68.3
98San Miguel County, NM67.6
99Fall River County, SD67.2
100Granite County, MT66.7

Every state, highest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

RankState$ per $100,000 of buildings
1Utah37.4
2Idaho37.4
3Nevada26.7
4Montana25.8
5California24.7
6New Mexico24.6
7Colorado19.4
8Arizona17.9
9Wyoming17.4
10Hawaii17.3
11Alaska17.1
12South Dakota13.5
13Oregon13.4
14Washington11.3
15Oklahoma6.43
16Kansas6.35
17North Dakota5.49
18Nebraska4.42
19Florida2.69
20Texas2.41
21Arkansas1.87
22Mississippi1.67
23South Carolina1.16
24Minnesota0.772
25Kentucky0.698
26Alabama0.652
27New Jersey0.627
28Louisiana0.618
29Georgia0.571
30North Carolina0.541
31West Virginia0.472
32Iowa0.467
33Missouri0.459
34Delaware0.265
35Virginia0.237
36Tennessee0.219
37Maryland0.19
38New Hampshire0.117
39Michigan0.0922
40Wisconsin0.0859
41Maine0.0793
42Vermont0.0697
43Massachusetts0.0493
44Ohio0.0477
45Pennsylvania0.0463
46Indiana0.0395
47New York0.0349
48Connecticut0.0332
49Rhode Island0.0178
50Illinois0.0149
51District of Columbia0.00256

More on expected yearly wildfire loss

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.