Magalia, CA
Magalia wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Magalia at the 97th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 2,979 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Magalia at the 94th national percentile — 2 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
Direct exposure dominates in Magalia: 88.4% of its 2,979 buildings, versus 11.6% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Magalia compares
Magalia ranks lower within California (78th percentile statewide) than its 97th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Magalia ranks 1,063 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 5,469 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 340 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Magalia
Magalia's 97th-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.
Hardening a home in Magalia
Because Direct exposure dominates in Magalia (88.4%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind Magalia's 1,063-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Magalia, see the exposure-zones guide.