Princeton, CA
Princeton, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Princeton at the 72nd national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 275 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Princeton at the 70th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Princeton's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 72.4% of Princeton's 275 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 20.7% Direct and 6.9% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
Princeton against the rest of the country
Princeton's 72nd national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 30th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 42 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Princeton ranks 8,847 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,349 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,101 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Princeton and the insurance market
Princeton sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 72nd-percentile score like Princeton's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Princeton
Princeton's 72.4% 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 Princeton's figures come from
Princeton's 72nd-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 Princeton's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.