Welton, IA
How exposed is Welton to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Welton at the 29th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 130 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Welton at the 29th percentile, close to its 29th-percentile risk score.
Welton's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 67.7% of Welton's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 32.3% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
Welton against the rest of the country
Welton scores 29th nationally and 44th within Iowa — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Welton ranks 22,306 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,713 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 573 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Welton and the insurance market
Welton's moderate rating (29th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With 67.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Welton gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Welton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 130 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Welton. The exposure-zones guide covers what Welton's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.