Cobalt, MO
Cobalt, MO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Cobalt's 140 buildings earn a 53rd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Cobalt at the 56th percentile, close to its 53rd-percentile risk score.
Where Cobalt's buildings actually sit
70.7% of Cobalt's 140 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 29.3% Direct and 0% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
Cobalt against the rest of the country
Cobalt scores 53rd nationally and 40th 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, Cobalt ranks 14,719 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 27,288 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 643 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Cobalt and the insurance market
Cobalt's elevated rating (53rd percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Cobalt (70.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Cobalt's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Cobalt's 14,719-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cobalt's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.