Rock Rapids, IA
Rock Rapids, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Rock Rapids at the 27th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 1,687 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Rock Rapids's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 25th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Rock Rapids's buildings (83.5% of 1,687) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure.
Rock Rapids against the rest of the country
There's little gap between Rock Rapids's 27th national percentile and its 42nd percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Rock Rapids ranks 22,908 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,469 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 595 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Rock Rapids
Rock Rapids's moderate wildfire rating (27th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 83.5% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Rock Rapids gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Rock Rapids's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,687 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Rock Rapids. The exposure-zones guide covers what Rock Rapids's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.