El Rio, CA
El Rio, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts El Rio at the 46th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 2,619 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks El Rio at the 47th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
99.2% of El Rio's 2,619 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 0.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
Where El Rio ranks
El Rio's 46th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 8th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 38 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, El Rio ranks 16,947 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 6,067 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,438 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
El Rio'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.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 99.2% of El Rio outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 2,619 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for El Rio. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond El Rio, see the exposure-zones guide.