Moss Landing, CA
How exposed is Moss Landing to wildfire?
Moss Landing sits at the 49th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 174 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Moss Landing's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 52nd percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS puts 51.7% of Moss Landing's 174 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 3.5% Direct and 44.8% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Where Moss Landing ranks
Inside California, Moss Landing sits at just the 10th percentile even though it scores 49th 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, Moss Landing ranks 16,062 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,847 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,420 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
Because Moss Landing 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.
Hardening a home in Moss Landing
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Moss Landing (51.7% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Moss Landing's figures come from
Moss Landing's 49th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Moss Landing's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.