Williams, IA
How exposed is Williams to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Williams at the 2nd national percentile for risk to structures, among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally — a score built from 306 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Williams at the 2nd national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
92.5% of Williams's 306 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 7.5% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Williams against the rest of the country
Williams's risk sits at a similar level relative to Iowa (3rd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (2nd) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Williams ranks 30,921 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,467 by building count (1 is largest). Within Iowa alone, it ranks 992 of 1,017 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Iowa on its state page.
Williams and the insurance market
Williams's low rating (2nd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Williams
Williams's 92.5% 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 Williams's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Williams's 30,921-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Williams's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.