Bowling Green, MO
How exposed is Bowling Green to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Bowling Green lands at the 56th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,898 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bowling Green at the 58th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Bowling Green's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Bowling Green (86.3% of 1,898 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 13.4% sit in the Direct zone.
Bowling Green against the rest of the country
Bowling Green scores 56th nationally and 45th within Missouri — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bowling Green ranks 13,839 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 7,777 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 587 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
Bowling Green's elevated wildfire rating (56th 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 86.3% of Bowling Green's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,898 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Bowling Green. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bowling Green, see the exposure-zones guide.