Postville, IA
Postville, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Postville sits at the 8th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,083 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Postville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 9th percentile nationally.
Postville's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 95.2% of Postville's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 4.8% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Postville against the rest of the country
Postville's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (17th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (8th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Postville ranks 28,869 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,390 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 843 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
Postville's low rating (8th 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 Postville
With 95.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Postville gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Postville's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Postville's 28,869-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Postville's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.