Markleeville, CA
Markleeville, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Markleeville at the 98th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 228 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Markleeville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 98th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Markleeville's 228 counted buildings, 96.1% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Where Markleeville ranks
Inside California, Markleeville sits at just the 82nd percentile even though it scores 98th 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, Markleeville ranks 687 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,846 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 280 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
Markleeville 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 98th-percentile score like Markleeville's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 96.1% of Markleeville 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
Markleeville's 98th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Markleeville, see the exposure-zones guide.