Elk Horn, IA
Elk Horn wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Elk Horn lands at the 47th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 381 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Elk Horn's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.
Elk Horn's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 8.9% of Elk Horn's 381 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 91.1% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Elk Horn compares
Compare Elk Horn's two percentiles: 65th within Iowa, only 47th nationally — a gap of 18 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Elk Horn ranks 16,602 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,616 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 358 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Elk Horn and the insurance market
Elk Horn'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 91.1% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Elk Horn gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Elk Horn's figures come from
Elk Horn's 47th-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 Elk Horn's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.