Los Ranchos, CA
Los Ranchos, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Los Ranchos sits at the 93rd percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 866 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Los Ranchos at the 93rd national percentile — 0 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
55.7% of Los Ranchos's 866 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 482 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 44.3% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Los Ranchos compares
Inside California, Los Ranchos sits at just the 69th percentile even though it scores 93rd 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, Los Ranchos ranks 2,196 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,018 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 494 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Los Ranchos and the insurance market
Because Los Ranchos 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 55.7% of Los Ranchos 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 866 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Los Ranchos. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Los Ranchos, see the exposure-zones guide.