Sand City, CA
How exposed is Sand City to wildfire?
USFS scores Sand City at the 60th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (well above the national norm for wildfire risk), a figure built from 282 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Sand City at the 62nd national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
100% of Sand City's 282 buildings sit in USFS's Minimal exposure zone, with only 0% rated Direct — risk here comes from regional burn probability more than proximity to burnable vegetation at the structure itself.
How Sand City compares
Sand City ranks lower within California (19th percentile statewide) than its 60th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Sand City ranks 12,474 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 22,111 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,283 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Sand City and the insurance market
Because Sand City 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 Sand City
Even with 100% of Sand City 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.
Where Sand City's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Sand City's 12,474-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Sand City's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.