Wahpeton, IA
Wahpeton, IA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Wahpeton's 563 buildings earn a 57th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Wahpeton's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 54th percentile nationally.
Where Wahpeton's buildings actually sit
Wahpeton rates 59% Minimal exposure against just 41% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 563 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Wahpeton compares
Within Iowa, Wahpeton ranks higher (78th percentile) than it does nationally (57th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Wahpeton ranks 13,578 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,355 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 221 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Wahpeton and the insurance market
Wahpeton's elevated wildfire rating (57th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Wahpeton's 59% 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 Wahpeton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 563 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Wahpeton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Wahpeton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.