Santa Maria, TX
How exposed is Santa Maria to wildfire?
USFS scores Santa Maria at the 58th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 318 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Santa Maria at the 59th percentile, close to its 58th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Santa Maria's buildings (81.5%) 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.
Santa Maria against the rest of the country
Santa Maria ranks lower within Texas (12th percentile statewide) than its 58th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Santa Maria ranks 13,281 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 21,163 by building count (1 is largest). Within Texas alone, it ranks 1,578 of 1,795 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Texas on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Santa Maria's elevated wildfire rating (58th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Santa Maria
Santa Maria's 81.5% 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.
More on how this number was built
Santa Maria's 58th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Santa Maria, see the exposure-zones guide.