Chowchilla, CA
Chowchilla wildfire risk explained
Chowchilla sits at the 90th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,658 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Chowchilla at the 91st percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Chowchilla's building exposure, zone by zone
Chowchilla rates 46.9% Minimal exposure against just 14.4% Direct and 38.6% Indirect — of 4,658 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Chowchilla against the rest of the country
Chowchilla ranks lower within California (62nd percentile statewide) than its 90th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chowchilla ranks 3,075 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,652 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 595 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Chowchilla and the insurance market
Chowchilla 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 90th-percentile score like Chowchilla's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Chowchilla's 46.9% 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.
Where Chowchilla's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Chowchilla's 3,075-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Chowchilla's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.