St. Paul, IA
St. Paul, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
St. Paul sits at the 40th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 91 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, St. Paul's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 41st percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
St. Paul rates 76.9% Minimal exposure against just 23.1% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 91 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How St. Paul compares
There's little gap between St. Paul's 40th national percentile and its 55th percentile inside Iowa, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, St. Paul ranks 18,873 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,446 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 459 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
St. Paul's elevated wildfire rating (40th 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.
Hardening a home in St. Paul
With 76.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, St. Paul gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where St. Paul's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind St. Paul's 18,873-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what St. Paul's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.