Patterson, CA
Patterson, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS scores Patterson at the 90th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 6,908 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Patterson at the 92nd percentile, close to its 90th-percentile risk score.
Where Patterson's buildings actually sit
Most of Patterson's buildings (54.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone. At 6,908 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Patterson ranks
Patterson ranks lower within California (61st percentile statewide) than its 90th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Patterson ranks 3,177 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,506 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 609 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Patterson
Because Patterson 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
Because 54.4% of Patterson's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Patterson's figures come from
Patterson's 90th-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 Patterson's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.