South Dos Palos, CA
South Dos Palos wildfire risk explained
South Dos Palos sits at the 55th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 569 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, South Dos Palos's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 55th percentile nationally.
Where South Dos Palos's buildings actually sit
South Dos Palos rates 61.3% Minimal exposure against just 38.7% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 569 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
South Dos Palos against the rest of the country
South Dos Palos's 55th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 14th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 41 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Dos Palos ranks 14,048 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,261 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,344 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
South Dos Palos's 55th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
What would actually reduce this score
Even with 61.3% of South Dos Palos 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 South Dos Palos's figures come from
South Dos Palos's 55th-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 South Dos Palos's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.