Fairfax, IA
Fairfax wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Fairfax lands at the 15th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 1,280 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Fairfax's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 15th percentile nationally.
Where Fairfax's buildings actually sit
Fairfax rates 85.6% Minimal exposure against just 14.4% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,280 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Fairfax compares
There's little gap between Fairfax's 15th national percentile and its 25th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Fairfax ranks 26,787 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,196 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 763 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
Fairfax's low wildfire rating (15th 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
Even with 85.6% of Fairfax outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,280 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Fairfax. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Fairfax, see the exposure-zones guide.