Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Jefferson County, WI

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 64.8 Relatively High

86,003
Population
13
Departments
16
Stations
21
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.89
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
30th highest of 72
Life Safety per 100k
1.04
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
57th highest of 72
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$28.7M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
12th highest of 72
Property Loss per Resident
$334
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
22nd highest of 72

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Jefferson County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 50% of the life-safety total.

Jefferson County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $28.7M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 72 Wisconsin counties. Nationally, Jefferson County ranks 657th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1670th for life safety per 100k residents, 616th for property loss, and 1604th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Jefferson County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Jefferson County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

69%
29%
Property (buildings): $28.7M (68.7%)
Life safety: $12.2M (29.3%)
Agriculture: $849K (2.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $41,825,110 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Cold Wave
$6.1M
Tornado
$3.1M
Heat Wave
$1.2M
Lightning
$832K
Strong Wind
$593K
Hail
$218K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$22.1M
Tornado
$3.5M
Hail
$2.5M
Strong Wind
$412K
Earthquake
$180K
Lightning
$64K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Jefferson County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

54%
31%
15%
Combination: 54% (7)
Volunteer: 31% (4)
Unreported: 15% (2)
Residents per Station
5,375
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
18.6
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 13 departments registered in NERIS Public for Jefferson County, WI. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Jefferson County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 13 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Whitewater Fire/EMS 32,156 $4.4M Relatively Moderate 2
Fort Atkinson Fire Department 22,875 $3.4M Relatively High 1
City Of Lake Mills Fire Department 22,986 $3.3M Relatively High 1
Jefferson Fire Department 19,420 $2.9M Relatively High 1
Watertown Fire Department 19,413 $2.8M Relatively Moderate 1
Johnson Creek Fire & EMS 16,820 $2.5M Relatively High 2
Edgerton Fire Protection District 15,825 $2.3M Relatively High 2
Cambridge Fire Department 14,177 $2.0M Relatively High 1
Waterloo Fire Department 13,449 $2.0M Relatively High 1
Town Of Ixonia Fire And Ems 10,649 $1.6M Relatively Moderate 1
Palmyra Fire Department 12,528 $1.5M Relatively High 1
Sullivan Vol Fire Department 8,230 $1.3M Relatively High 1
Helenville Fire & Rescue 8,576 $1.3M Relatively High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

8.1%
Poverty Rate
18.5%
Age 65+
12.8%
Disability Rate
4.8%
Uninsured
58.9%
Pre-1980 Housing
3.6%
Mobile Homes
5.5%
Vacancy Rate
2.5%
Wood Heat
$85,821
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

3
Last 10 Years
8
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

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