Lawson, MO
How exposed is Lawson to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Lawson at the 63rd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,106 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Lawson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 64th percentile nationally.
Lawson's building exposure, zone by zone
71% of Lawson's 1,106 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 28.4% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Lawson compares
There's little gap between Lawson's 63rd national percentile and its 65th percentile inside Missouri, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lawson ranks 11,539 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,244 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 378 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Lawson and the insurance market
At the 63rd percentile nationally, Lawson 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.
Hardening a home in Lawson
Lawson's 71% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,106 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Lawson. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Lawson, see the exposure-zones guide.