Kelso, MO
How exposed is Kelso to wildfire?
Kelso's 318 buildings earn a 16th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Kelso at the 18th percentile, close to its 16th-percentile risk score.
Kelso's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 69.8% of Kelso's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 30.2% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Kelso compares
There's little gap between Kelso's 16th national percentile and its 6th percentile inside Missouri, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Kelso ranks 26,382 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,156 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 995 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
Kelso's low rating (16th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Kelso
With 69.8% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Kelso gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Kelso's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Kelso's 26,382-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Kelso's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.