Merrill, IA
Merrill wildfire risk explained
Merrill sits at the 26th 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 460 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Merrill at the 20th percentile, close to its 26th-percentile risk score.
Merrill's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 76.5% of Merrill's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 23.5% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Merrill against the rest of the country
Merrill's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (40th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (26th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Merrill ranks 23,478 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,053 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 619 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
Merrill's moderate rating (26th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Merrill
Merrill's 76.5% 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 Merrill's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Merrill's 23,478-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Merrill's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.