Lake Ozark, MO
How exposed is Lake Ozark to wildfire?
Lake Ozark's 1,373 buildings earn a 74th-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.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lake Ozark at the 75th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Lake Ozark's 1,373 counted buildings, 49.9% carry Direct exposure and only 36.9% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Lake Ozark ranks
Within Missouri, Lake Ozark ranks higher (89th percentile) than it does nationally (74th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lake Ozark ranks 8,356 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,740 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 120 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lake Ozark
Lake Ozark's high rating (74th 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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Lake Ozark (49.9%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,373 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lake Ozark. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Lake Ozark, see the exposure-zones guide.