Ripon, CA
Ripon, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Ripon sits at the 81st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 5,745 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Ripon's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 81st percentile nationally.
Where Ripon's buildings actually sit
Most of Ripon's buildings (72.3%) 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 5,745 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Ripon against the rest of the country
Inside California, Ripon sits at just the 42nd percentile even though it scores 81st 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, Ripon ranks 5,914 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,006 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 910 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Ripon
Because Ripon 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
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Ripon (72.3% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
Where Ripon's figures come from
Ripon's 81st-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 Ripon's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.