Carson, IA
Carson, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Carson at the 26th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 499 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Carson at the 24th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Carson's building exposure, zone by zone
89.2% of Carson's 499 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 10.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Carson ranks
Carson's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (40th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (26th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carson ranks 23,352 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,377 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 608 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
Carson's moderate rating (26th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Carson
With 89.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Carson gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Carson's 26th-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 Carson, see the exposure-zones guide.