Jefferson, IA
Jefferson, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Jefferson at the 33rd national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 2,652 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Jefferson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 32nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
71.6% of Jefferson's 2,652 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 18.7% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Jefferson against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Jefferson's 33rd national percentile and its 48th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Jefferson ranks 21,046 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,015 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 528 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
Jefferson's moderate rating (33rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 71.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Jefferson gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Jefferson's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Jefferson's 21,046-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Jefferson's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.