Poway, CA
Poway, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Poway at the 99th national percentile for risk to structures, in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — a score built from 17,485 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Poway's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 98th percentile nationally.
Poway's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Poway's buildings (50.7% of 17,485) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 17,485 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where Poway ranks
Poway scores 99th nationally and 87th within California — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Poway ranks 406 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 816 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 196 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Poway and the insurance market
Because Poway 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.
What would actually reduce this score
With 50.7% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Poway gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 17,485 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Poway. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond Poway, see the exposure-zones guide.