Carson, CA
Carson wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Carson lands at the 36th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 29,365 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Carson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 43rd percentile nationally.
Where Carson's buildings actually sit
Most of Carson's buildings (99.9% of 29,365) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 29,365 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Carson against the rest of the country
Carson's 36th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 4th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 32 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Carson ranks 20,286 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 396 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,507 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Carson
Carson sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 36th-percentile score like Carson's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Carson's 99.9% 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 29,365 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Carson. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Carson, see the exposure-zones guide.