Pajaro, CA
Pajaro wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Pajaro at the 51st national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 616 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Pajaro's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 52nd percentile nationally.
Where Pajaro's buildings actually sit
Only 1.5% of Pajaro's 616 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 98.5% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure.
How Pajaro compares
Pajaro ranks lower within California (11th percentile statewide) than its 51st national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Pajaro ranks 15,371 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 15,614 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,392 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 Pajaro 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
Even with 98.5% of Pajaro outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Pajaro's 51st-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Pajaro, see the exposure-zones guide.