Madera, CA
Madera wildfire risk explained
Madera sits at the 86th 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 17,692 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Madera at the 87th national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
52.1% of Madera's 17,692 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 7.8% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself. At 17,692 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Madera against the rest of the country
Madera's 86th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 51st ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 34 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Madera ranks 4,565 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 809 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 769 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
Madera 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 86th-percentile score like Madera's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 52.1% of Madera outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where Madera's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 17,692 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Madera. The exposure-zones guide covers what Madera's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.