Joshua Tree, CA
Joshua Tree, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Joshua Tree at the 79th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 4,776 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Joshua Tree at the 75th percentile, close to its 79th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
75.7% of Joshua Tree's 4,776 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 3,615 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 24.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
Joshua Tree against the rest of the country
Joshua Tree's 79th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 39th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 40 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Joshua Tree ranks 6,611 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,575 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 961 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
Joshua Tree 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 79th-percentile score like Joshua Tree's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 75.7% of Joshua Tree in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 4,776 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Joshua Tree. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Joshua Tree, see the exposure-zones guide.