Elberon, IA
Elberon, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Elberon's 158 buildings earn a 47th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Elberon at the 48th national percentile — 1 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
Elberon rates 89.9% Minimal exposure against just 10.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 158 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Elberon compares
Compare Elberon's two percentiles: 64th within Iowa, only 47th nationally — a gap of 17 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elberon ranks 16,759 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,524 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 367 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
Elberon's elevated wildfire rating (47th 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 89.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Elberon gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Elberon's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 158 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Elberon. The exposure-zones guide covers what Elberon's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.