Nicolaus, CA
Nicolaus, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Nicolaus sits at the 76th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 177 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Nicolaus's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 75th percentile nationally.
Nicolaus's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Nicolaus: 91.5% of its 177 buildings, versus 2.8% Indirect and 5.7% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How Nicolaus compares
Inside California, Nicolaus sits at just the 34th percentile even though it scores 76th 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, Nicolaus ranks 7,622 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 25,738 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,032 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
Nicolaus's 76th-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.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Nicolaus (91.5%), 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 Nicolaus's 7,622-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Nicolaus, see the exposure-zones guide.