Crystal Lake, IA
Crystal Lake wildfire risk explained
Crystal Lake sits at the 14th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 178 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Crystal Lake at the 12th percentile, close to its 14th-percentile risk score.
Where Crystal Lake's buildings actually sit
Crystal Lake rates 81.5% Minimal exposure against just 18.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 178 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Where Crystal Lake ranks
Crystal Lake scores 14th nationally and 24th within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Crystal Lake ranks 27,004 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,711 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 771 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
Crystal Lake's low wildfire rating (14th 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 81.5% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Crystal Lake gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Crystal Lake's figures come from
Crystal Lake's 14th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Crystal Lake's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.