Chester, IA
How exposed is Chester to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Chester lands at the 21st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 164 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chester at the 19th percentile, close to its 21st-percentile risk score.
Chester's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Chester's buildings (78.7% of 164) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Chester ranks
Chester's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (33rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (21st) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chester ranks 25,020 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,246 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 678 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
Chester's moderate rating (21st percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 78.7% of Chester 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
Chester's 21st-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 Chester, see the exposure-zones guide.