Sheldon, IA
Sheldon, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Sheldon at the 18th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 2,774 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sheldon at the 16th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Sheldon's buildings actually sit
Most of Sheldon's buildings (85.3% of 2,774) 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.
How Sheldon compares
Sheldon scores 18th nationally and 30th 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, Sheldon ranks 25,711 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,817 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 713 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
At the 18th national percentile, Sheldon 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 Sheldon
Sheldon's 85.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
Where Sheldon's figures come from
Sheldon's 18th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sheldon's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.