Marathon, IA
How exposed is Marathon to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Marathon at the 4th national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 255 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Marathon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 4th percentile nationally.
Marathon's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 27.1% of Marathon's 255 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 72.9% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Marathon compares
Marathon scores 4th nationally and 8th 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, Marathon ranks 30,261 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,977 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 936 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
Marathon's low wildfire rating (4th 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 Marathon
Marathon's 72.9% 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 Marathon's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 255 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Marathon. The exposure-zones guide covers what Marathon's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.