Gainesville, MO
How exposed is Gainesville to wildfire?
Gainesville's 516 buildings earn a 80th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — well above the national norm 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 Gainesville at the 82nd percentile, close to its 80th-percentile risk score.
Gainesville's building exposure, zone by zone
69.4% of Gainesville's 516 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 358 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 30.6% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Where Gainesville ranks
Gainesville's 97th-percentile standing inside Missouri outpaces its 80th national percentile — this is a hotter spot than most of its own state, even though the state as a whole runs cooler nationally. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Gainesville ranks 6,429 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 17,089 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 37 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Gainesville
At the 80th percentile nationally, Gainesville 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
With 69.4% of Gainesville in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Gainesville's 6,429-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gainesville, see the exposure-zones guide.