Bolivar, MO
Bolivar wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bolivar lands at the 73rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 4,502 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Bolivar at the 75th percentile, close to its 73rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
69.7% of Bolivar's 4,502 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 12.6% Direct and 17.7% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Where Bolivar ranks
Within Missouri, Bolivar ranks higher (88th percentile) than it does nationally (73rd) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bolivar ranks 8,445 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,792 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 124 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 73rd percentile nationally, Bolivar carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Bolivar's 69.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Bolivar's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Bolivar's 8,445-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Bolivar's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.