Buttonwillow, CA
Buttonwillow, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Buttonwillow sits at the 68th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 677 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Buttonwillow's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 68th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 84.3% of Buttonwillow's buildings as Minimal exposure, the largest of the three zones here by a wide margin over 15.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — a landscape-level risk rather than a building-by-building one.
How Buttonwillow compares
Buttonwillow's 68th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 25th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 43 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Buttonwillow ranks 10,139 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 14,894 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,177 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Buttonwillow
Buttonwillow's 68th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Buttonwillow's 84.3% 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 Buttonwillow's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 677 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Buttonwillow. The exposure-zones guide covers what Buttonwillow's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.