El Verano, CA
El Verano, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, El Verano lands at the 83rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 1,771 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks El Verano at the 84th national percentile — 1 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
USFS puts 85.2% of El Verano's 1,771 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 14.8% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
El Verano against the rest of the country
Inside California, El Verano sits at just the 44th 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, El Verano ranks 5,507 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 8,147 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 874 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
El Verano and the insurance market
El Verano 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 83rd-percentile score like El Verano's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in El Verano (85.2% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
El Verano's 83rd-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond El Verano, see the exposure-zones guide.