Boulder Creek, CA
How exposed is Boulder Creek to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Boulder Creek lands at the 71st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 2,365 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Boulder Creek's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 73rd percentile nationally.
Boulder Creek's building exposure, zone by zone
USFS classifies 88.5% of Boulder Creek's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 11.5% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 2,094 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Boulder Creek against the rest of the country
Inside California, Boulder Creek sits at just the 28th percentile even though it scores 71st nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Boulder Creek ranks 9,194 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,577 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,124 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Boulder Creek
Because Boulder Creek 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 Boulder Creek
Because Direct exposure dominates in Boulder Creek (88.5%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Boulder Creek's 9,194-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Boulder Creek, see the exposure-zones guide.