Ellsworth, IA
How exposed is Ellsworth to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Ellsworth lands at the 20th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 369 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Ellsworth at the 17th national percentile — 3 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
87% of Ellsworth's 369 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 13% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Ellsworth compares
Ellsworth's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (33rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (20th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Ellsworth ranks 25,217 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,879 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 685 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
Ellsworth's low wildfire rating (20th 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 87% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Ellsworth gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
Ellsworth's 20th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Ellsworth, see the exposure-zones guide.