Aptos, CA
Aptos, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Aptos lands at the 78th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 3,258 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 Aptos at the 79th percentile, close to its 78th-percentile risk score.
Aptos's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Aptos's 3,258 counted buildings, 52% 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.
Where Aptos ranks
Aptos ranks lower within California (37th percentile statewide) than its 78th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Aptos ranks 6,957 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,090 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 983 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Because Aptos is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Hardening a home in Aptos
With 52% of Aptos in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Aptos's 6,957-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Aptos, see the exposure-zones guide.