Garden City, IA
Garden City wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Garden City at the 3rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 100 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Garden City's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 2nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
68% of Garden City's 100 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 32% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Garden City compares
Garden City's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (5th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (3rd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Garden City ranks 30,667 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,023 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 970 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
At the 3rd national percentile, Garden City rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Garden City
With 68% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Garden City gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Garden City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 100 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Garden City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Garden City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.