Sanborn, IA
How exposed is Sanborn to wildfire?
Sanborn sits at the 6th 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 859 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sanborn at the 6th national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 20.4% of Sanborn's 859 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 79.6% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
Where Sanborn ranks
Sanborn's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (14th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (6th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sanborn ranks 29,563 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,089 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 879 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Sanborn and the insurance market
At the 6th national percentile, Sanborn rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Sanborn
With 79.6% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Sanborn gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 859 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Sanborn. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Sanborn, see the exposure-zones guide.