Tama, IA
Tama, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Tama lands at the 78th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,532 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Tama at the 80th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Tama's buildings actually sit
1,532 buildings are counted in Tama, and 79.1% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 10.8% in Direct exposure or the 10.1% rated Minimal.
How Tama compares
Compare Tama's two percentiles: 99th within Iowa, only 78th nationally — a gap of 21 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tama ranks 6,896 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,027 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 14 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
Tama's high rating (78th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Tama
Because 79.1% of Tama's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Tama's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,532 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Tama. The exposure-zones guide covers what Tama's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.