Cuyama, CA
How exposed is Cuyama to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cuyama lands at the 75th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 51 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cuyama at the 79th national percentile — 4 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Cuyama's buildings actually sit
USFS classifies 86.3% of Cuyama's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0% Indirect share and far above its 13.7% Minimal share — a profile where 44 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
How Cuyama compares
Cuyama's 75th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 32nd ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 42 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cuyama ranks 8,030 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,894 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,063 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cuyama
Cuyama 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 75th-percentile score like Cuyama's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 86.3% of Cuyama 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.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 51 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cuyama. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cuyama, see the exposure-zones guide.