San Diego, CA
How exposed is San Diego to wildfire?
San Diego sits at the 95th 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 336,420 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks San Diego at the 94th national percentile — 1 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
San Diego's building exposure, zone by zone
Only 3.6% of San Diego's 336,420 buildings carry Direct exposure and 22.3% carry Indirect; the remaining 74.1% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 336,420 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
San Diego against the rest of the country
San Diego ranks lower within California (74th percentile statewide) than its 95th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, San Diego ranks 1,596 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 415 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 San Diego 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.
Hardening a home in San Diego
Even with 74.1% of San Diego 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
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 336,420 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for San Diego. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond San Diego, see the exposure-zones guide.