Branson, MO
How exposed is Branson to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Branson lands at the 69th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 5,340 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Branson at the 70th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Branson's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS puts 73.7% of Branson's 5,340 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 25.4% Direct and 0.9% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to. At 5,340 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Branson against the rest of the country
Branson scores 69th nationally and 81st 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, Branson ranks 9,645 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,230 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 203 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Branson and the insurance market
Branson's high rating (69th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 73.7% of Branson'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.
Where Branson's figures come from
Branson's 69th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Branson's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.