Columbus Junction, IA
Columbus Junction wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Columbus Junction at the 62nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 808 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Columbus Junction at the 64th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
808 buildings are counted in Columbus Junction, and 57.3% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 42.7% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Columbus Junction ranks
Compare Columbus Junction's two percentiles: 86th within Iowa, only 62nd nationally — a gap of 24 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Columbus Junction ranks 11,941 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,566 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 145 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
At the 62nd percentile nationally, Columbus Junction carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Columbus Junction's 57.3% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Columbus Junction's 11,941-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Columbus Junction, see the exposure-zones guide.