Lenox, IA
Lenox wildfire risk explained
Lenox sits at the 31st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 871 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lenox at the 31st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 82.3% of Lenox's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 17.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Lenox against the rest of the country
Lenox scores 31st nationally and 46th 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, Lenox ranks 21,677 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 12,974 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 551 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
Lenox's moderate wildfire rating (31st 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
Lenox's 82.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Lenox's figures come from
Lenox's 31st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Lenox's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.