Los Alamos, CA
Los Alamos, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Los Alamos's 783 buildings earn a 86th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Los Alamos's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 86th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Indirect exposure is dominant in Los Alamos (79.6% of 783 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 20.4% sit in the Direct zone.
Los Alamos against the rest of the country
Los Alamos's 86th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 53rd ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 33 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Los Alamos ranks 4,274 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,784 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 733 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Los Alamos and the insurance market
Because Los Alamos 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.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Los Alamos (79.6% 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 783 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Los Alamos. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Los Alamos, see the exposure-zones guide.