Tightwad, MO
Tightwad wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Tightwad at the 80th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 86 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Tightwad's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 82nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Tightwad's 86 counted buildings, 96.5% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Tightwad compares
Within Missouri, Tightwad ranks higher (98th percentile) than it does nationally (80th) — one of the more fire-exposed places in a state that, overall, scores lower than that. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tightwad ranks 6,178 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 29,654 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 25 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
Tightwad and the insurance market
Tightwad's very high rating (80th 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.
Hardening a home in Tightwad
Because Direct exposure dominates in Tightwad (96.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Tightwad's figures come from
Tightwad's 80th-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 Tightwad's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.