South Oroville, CA
South Oroville wildfire risk explained
South Oroville sits at the 88th 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 1,317 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts South Oroville at the 89th percentile, close to its 88th-percentile risk score.
Where South Oroville's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 38.6% of South Oroville's 1,317 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 38.2% Direct and 23.2% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How South Oroville compares
South Oroville ranks lower within California (57th percentile statewide) than its 88th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Oroville ranks 3,742 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 9,983 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 678 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 Oroville sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 88th-percentile score like South Oroville's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in South Oroville (38.6% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Every one of the two percentiles behind South Oroville's 3,742-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond South Oroville, see the exposure-zones guide.