East Los Angeles, CA
How exposed is East Los Angeles to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts East Los Angeles at the 46th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 29,767 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, East Los Angeles's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 49th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
99.9% of East Los Angeles's 29,767 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 0.1% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 29,767 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How East Los Angeles compares
East Los Angeles ranks lower within California (8th percentile statewide) than its 46th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, East Los Angeles ranks 17,040 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 388 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,442 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles's 46th-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.
Hardening a home in East Los Angeles
With 99.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, East Los Angeles gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
East Los Angeles's 46th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond East Los Angeles, see the exposure-zones guide.