Cottonwood (Shasta), CA
Cottonwood (Shasta) wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Cottonwood (Shasta) at the 98th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 3,400 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cottonwood (Shasta)'s burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 99th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Direct exposure dominates in Cottonwood (Shasta): 63% of its 3,400 buildings, versus 33.6% Indirect and 3.4% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Cottonwood (Shasta) against the rest of the country
Cottonwood (Shasta)'s risk sits at a similar level relative to California (84th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (98th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cottonwood (Shasta) ranks 556 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,918 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 237 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Cottonwood (Shasta) and the insurance market
Because Cottonwood (Shasta) is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Cottonwood (Shasta) (63%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cottonwood (Shasta)'s 98th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cottonwood (Shasta), see the exposure-zones guide.