Gladbrook, IA
Gladbrook, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Gladbrook lands at the 20th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a figure built from its 607 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Gladbrook's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 19th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Gladbrook's buildings (91.3% of 607) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Where Gladbrook ranks
Gladbrook scores 20th nationally and 32nd within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gladbrook ranks 25,300 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,731 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 690 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Gladbrook and the insurance market
Gladbrook'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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 91.3% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Gladbrook 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gladbrook's 25,300-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Gladbrook, see the exposure-zones guide.