Isla Vista, CA
Isla Vista wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Isla Vista at the 55th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 1,184 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Isla Vista's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
Isla Vista's building exposure, zone by zone
Isla Vista rates 99.2% Minimal exposure against just 0.8% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 1,184 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
Isla Vista against the rest of the country
Isla Vista's 55th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 14th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 41 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Isla Vista ranks 14,329 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,741 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,353 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Isla Vista and the insurance market
Because Isla Vista is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
Hardening a home in Isla Vista
With 99.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Isla Vista gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Isla Vista's figures come from
Isla Vista's 55th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Isla Vista's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.