Paton, IA
Paton, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Paton's 195 buildings earn a 4th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Paton at the 4th percentile, close to its 4th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
80% of Paton's 195 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 20% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Paton ranks
Paton scores 4th nationally and 9th 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, Paton ranks 30,195 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,026 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 926 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
Paton's low rating (4th 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 Paton
With 80% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Paton gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Paton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Paton's 30,195-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Paton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.