Cutler, CA
How exposed is Cutler to wildfire?
Cutler sits at the 83rd 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 1,074 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 Cutler at the 85th percentile, close to its 83rd-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
89% of Cutler's 1,074 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 11% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where Cutler ranks
Inside California, Cutler sits at just the 46th percentile even though it scores 83rd 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, Cutler ranks 5,285 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,435 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 856 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
Cutler's 83rd-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 89% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Cutler gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Cutler's figures come from
Cutler's 83rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cutler's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.