Matthews, MO
Matthews, MO's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Matthews's 392 buildings earn a 9th-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 Matthews at the 8th percentile, close to its 9th-percentile risk score.
Matthews's building exposure, zone by zone
90.8% of Matthews's 392 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 9.2% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Matthews against the rest of the country
Matthews scores 9th nationally and 5th 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, Matthews ranks 28,689 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,368 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 1,005 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Matthews
At the 9th national percentile, Matthews rates low for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
What would actually reduce this score
Matthews's 90.8% 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.
Where Matthews's figures come from
Matthews's 9th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Matthews's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.