Benton, IA
Benton wildfire risk explained
Benton's 49 buildings earn a 67th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Benton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 68th percentile nationally.
Benton's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Benton: 83.7% of its 49 buildings, versus 14.3% Indirect and 2% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Benton ranks
Compare Benton's two percentiles: 91st within Iowa, only 67th nationally — a gap of 24 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Benton ranks 10,487 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,951 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 95 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Benton and the insurance market
Benton's 67th-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 83.7% of Benton in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
Where Benton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 49 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Benton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Benton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.