South Pasadena, CA
South Pasadena wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts South Pasadena at the 55th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 8,795 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks South Pasadena at the 56th 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
Most of South Pasadena's buildings (92.3% of 8,795) fall outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones entirely — that doesn't zero out the score above, it means the risk is regional, not structure-by-structure. At 8,795 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where South Pasadena ranks
South Pasadena ranks lower within California (14th percentile statewide) than its 55th 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 Pasadena ranks 14,269 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,895 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,351 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 South Pasadena 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 South Pasadena
South Pasadena's 92.3% Minimal-exposure share means structure-level hardening matters less here than it would elsewhere — still worth the low-cost basics, per the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
South Pasadena's 55th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what minimal exposure implies beyond South Pasadena, see the exposure-zones guide.