Charles City, IA
Charles City wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Charles City at the 29th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 4,376 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 Charles City at the 29th percentile, close to its 29th-percentile risk score.
Where Charles City's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 93.7% of Charles City's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 6.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Where Charles City ranks
Charles City's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (44th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (29th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Charles City ranks 22,305 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,898 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 572 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
Charles City's moderate wildfire rating (29th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 93.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Charles City gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Charles City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,376 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Charles City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Charles City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.