Carpinteria, CA
How exposed is Carpinteria to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Carpinteria lands at the 74th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 4,132 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carpinteria's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 71st percentile nationally.
Where Carpinteria's buildings actually sit
73.5% of Carpinteria's 4,132 buildings fall in USFS's Indirect exposure zone — ember cast rather than direct flame — against 2.8% Direct and 23.7% Minimal. Vent screens and roofing material matter more here than lot clearing alone.
How Carpinteria compares
Carpinteria ranks lower within California (32nd percentile statewide) than its 74th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carpinteria ranks 8,152 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,117 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,069 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
Carpinteria's 74th-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.
Hardening a home in Carpinteria
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Carpinteria (73.5% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Carpinteria's 8,152-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Carpinteria, see the exposure-zones guide.