Argyle, IA
How exposed is Argyle to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Argyle at the 60th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 89 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Argyle at the 62nd percentile, close to its 60th-percentile risk score.
Where Argyle's buildings actually sit
89 buildings are counted in Argyle, and 86.5% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 13.5% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Argyle against the rest of the country
Compare Argyle's two percentiles: 83rd within Iowa, only 60th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Argyle ranks 12,600 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,530 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 171 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Argyle's elevated wildfire rating (60th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Argyle (86.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Argyle's 60th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Argyle, see the exposure-zones guide.