Foster City, CA
Foster City, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Foster City at the 27th national percentile for risk to structures, close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a score built from 6,996 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Foster City at the 29th national percentile — 2 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
73.3% of Foster City's 6,996 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 0.6% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 6,996 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Foster City compares
Foster City ranks lower within California (2nd percentile statewide) than its 27th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Foster City ranks 23,155 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,465 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,534 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Foster City and the insurance market
Foster City 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 27th-percentile score like Foster City's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Foster City
Even with 73.3% of Foster City 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.
Where Foster City's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 6,996 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Foster City. The exposure-zones guide covers what Foster City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.