Center, MO
Center, MO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Center at the 43rd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 414 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Center at the 44th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Center's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Center's buildings (90.3%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Center against the rest of the country
Center's 43rd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 18th ranking inside Missouri does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 25 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Center ranks 18,029 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,946 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 868 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Center
At the 43rd national percentile, Center rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Center
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Center (90.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Center's 43rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Center, see the exposure-zones guide.