Waukon, IA
How exposed is Waukon to wildfire?
USFS scores Waukon at the 26th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range), a figure built from 2,226 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Waukon at the 27th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Waukon's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Waukon's buildings (90% of 2,226) 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 Waukon compares
Waukon's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (40th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (26th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Waukon ranks 23,444 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,871 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 615 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Waukon
Waukon's moderate wildfire rating (26th 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 Waukon
Waukon's 90% 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 Waukon's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,226 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Waukon. The exposure-zones guide covers what Waukon's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.