Lowell, IA
Lowell wildfire risk explained
Lowell sits at the 68th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 72 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lowell's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Lowell's 72 counted buildings, 54.2% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Lowell against the rest of the country
Within Iowa, Lowell ranks higher (92nd percentile) than it does nationally (68th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lowell ranks 10,078 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,199 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 83 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Lowell and the insurance market
Lowell's high rating (68th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
What would actually reduce this score
With 54.2% of Lowell in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Lowell's 10,078-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lowell, see the exposure-zones guide.