Brayton, IA
How exposed is Brayton to wildfire?
Brayton's 124 buildings earn a 53rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Brayton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 54th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
81.5% of Brayton's 124 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 18.6% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Brayton against the rest of the country
Compare Brayton's two percentiles: 73rd within Iowa, only 53rd nationally — a gap of 20 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Brayton ranks 14,713 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,981 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 274 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Brayton and the insurance market
Brayton's elevated rating (53rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 81.5% of Brayton 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
Brayton's 53rd-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 Brayton, see the exposure-zones guide.