Little Cedar, IA
Little Cedar, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Little Cedar sits at the 18th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 64 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Little Cedar's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 17th percentile nationally.
Little Cedar's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Little Cedar's buildings (70.3% of 64) 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.
Little Cedar against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Little Cedar's 18th national percentile and its 29th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Little Cedar ranks 25,936 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,502 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 723 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
Little Cedar's low wildfire rating (18th 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.
Hardening a home in Little Cedar
Little Cedar's 70.3% 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 Little Cedar's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 64 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Little Cedar. The exposure-zones guide covers what Little Cedar's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.