Lafayette, CA
Lafayette wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Lafayette lands at the 89th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a figure built from its 9,921 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Lafayette at the 90th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Lafayette's building exposure, zone by zone
Of Lafayette's 9,921 counted buildings, 54.9% carry Direct exposure and only 5.2% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first. At 9,921 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Lafayette ranks
Lafayette's 89th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 59th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 30 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Lafayette ranks 3,458 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,632 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 645 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Lafayette
Lafayette's 89th-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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 54.9% of Lafayette 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.
Where Lafayette's figures come from
Lafayette's 89th-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 Lafayette's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.