Muir Beach, CA
Muir Beach, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Muir Beach sits at the 89th 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 210 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Muir Beach at the 89th percentile, close to its 89th-percentile risk score.
Muir Beach's building exposure, zone by zone
Indirect exposure is dominant in Muir Beach (54.8% of 210 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 45.2% sit in the Direct zone.
Muir Beach against the rest of the country
Muir Beach's 89th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 58th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 31 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Muir Beach ranks 3,549 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,468 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 655 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Muir Beach and the insurance market
Because Muir Beach 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
Muir Beach's 54.8% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Muir Beach's figures come from
Muir Beach's 89th-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 Muir Beach's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.