Columbus City, IA
Columbus City, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Columbus City sits at the 58th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 252 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Columbus City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 61st percentile nationally.
Where Columbus City's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 86.1% of Columbus City's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 13.9% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Columbus City against the rest of the country
Columbus City's 82nd-percentile standing inside Iowa outpaces its 58th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Columbus City ranks 13,103 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,072 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 187 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Columbus City
Columbus City's elevated rating (58th 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
Columbus City's 86.1% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Columbus City's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Columbus City's 13,103-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Columbus City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.