Batavia, IA
Batavia wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Batavia at the 52nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 401 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Batavia at the 53rd national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Batavia's building exposure, zone by zone
85% of Batavia's 401 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 15% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Batavia against the rest of the country
Within Iowa, Batavia ranks higher (71st percentile) than it does nationally (52nd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Batavia ranks 15,245 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,186 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 297 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Batavia
Batavia's elevated wildfire rating (52nd 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
Batavia's 85% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Batavia's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 401 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Batavia. The exposure-zones guide covers what Batavia's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.