Norwalk, IA
How exposed is Norwalk to wildfire?
Norwalk's 4,967 buildings earn a 53rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Norwalk's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
80.6% of Norwalk's 4,967 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 19.4% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Norwalk compares
Compare Norwalk's two percentiles: 73rd within Iowa, only 53rd nationally — a gap of 20 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Norwalk ranks 14,714 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,451 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 275 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Norwalk and the insurance market
Norwalk's elevated rating (53rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 80.6% of Norwalk outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Norwalk's 53rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Norwalk, see the exposure-zones guide.