Catalina, AZ
Catalina wildfire risk explained
Catalina's 5,243 buildings earn a 92nd-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Catalina at the 91st national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Catalina's buildings actually sit
Of Catalina's 5,243 counted buildings, 73.9% 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. At 5,243 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Catalina against the rest of the country
Inside Arizona, Catalina sits at just the 67th percentile even though it scores 92nd 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, Catalina ranks 2,477 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,288 by building count (1 is largest). Within Arizona alone, it ranks 144 of 441 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Arizona on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Catalina
At the 92nd percentile nationally, Catalina carries the very high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
Hardening a home in Catalina
With 73.9% of Catalina 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.
Where Catalina's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 5,243 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Catalina. The exposure-zones guide covers what Catalina's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.