Indian Wells, CA
Indian Wells wildfire risk explained
Indian Wells sits at the 64th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,589 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Indian Wells at the 66th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Indian Wells's buildings actually sit
4,589 buildings are counted in Indian Wells, and 75% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 8.8% in Direct exposure or the 16.3% rated Minimal.
Indian Wells against the rest of the country
Inside California, Indian Wells sits at just the 22nd percentile even though it scores 64th 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, Indian Wells ranks 11,335 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,712 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,220 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
Indian Wells's 64th-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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Indian Wells (75% 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
Indian Wells's 64th-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 Indian Wells, see the exposure-zones guide.