University Heights, IA
University Heights wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts University Heights at the 58th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 436 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, University Heights's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 62nd percentile nationally.
Where University Heights's buildings actually sit
Only 8.3% of University Heights's 436 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 91.7% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
University Heights against the rest of the country
Compare University Heights's two percentiles: 81st within Iowa, only 58th nationally — a gap of 23 points that marks it as unusually exposed for its own state. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, University Heights ranks 13,237 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,532 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 200 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in University Heights
At the 58th national percentile, University Heights rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
With 91.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, University Heights 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
Every one of the two percentiles behind University Heights's 13,237-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond University Heights, see the exposure-zones guide.