Goose Lake, IA
Goose Lake, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Goose Lake sits at the 52nd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 170 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Goose Lake at the 48th national percentile — 4 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Goose Lake's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 73.5% of Goose Lake's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 26.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Goose Lake compares
Compare Goose Lake's two percentiles: 71st within Iowa, only 52nd nationally — a gap of 19 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Goose Lake ranks 15,277 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 26,020 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 299 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Goose Lake
Goose Lake's elevated rating (52nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 73.5% of Goose Lake 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.
Where Goose Lake's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Goose Lake's 15,277-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Goose Lake's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.