Union Star, MO
How exposed is Union Star to wildfire?
USFS scores Union Star at the 52nd national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 323 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Union Star's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 52nd percentile nationally.
Where Union Star's buildings actually sit
70.9% of Union Star's 323 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 29.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Union Star ranks
Union Star's 52nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 36th ranking inside Missouri does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 16 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Union Star ranks 15,255 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,011 by building count (1 is largest). Within Missouri alone, it ranks 682 of 1,062 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Missouri on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Union Star's elevated wildfire rating (52nd percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Union Star
Union Star's 70.9% 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 Union Star's figures come from
Union Star's 52nd-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 Union Star's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.