Owensville, MO
Owensville wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Owensville lands at the 57th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 1,725 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Owensville at the 59th percentile, close to its 57th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Owensville's buildings (81.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Owensville compares
Owensville's risk sits at a similar level relative to Missouri (47th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (57th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Owensville ranks 13,619 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,319 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 567 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Owensville and the insurance market
Owensville's elevated rating (57th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
Owensville's 81.9% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Owensville's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 1,725 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Owensville. The exposure-zones guide covers what Owensville's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.