Stinson Beach, CA
How exposed is Stinson Beach to wildfire?
Stinson Beach sits at the 91st 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 845 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Stinson Beach at the 92nd national percentile — 1 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Stinson Beach's buildings actually sit
Indirect exposure is dominant in Stinson Beach (76.9% of 845 buildings): far enough from burnable vegetation to avoid flame contact, close enough for wind-blown embers. Only 7.3% sit in the Direct zone.
Stinson Beach against the rest of the country
Stinson Beach's 91st national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 64th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stinson Beach ranks 2,827 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,201 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 569 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Stinson Beach and the insurance market
Stinson Beach 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 91st-percentile score like Stinson Beach's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because 76.9% of Stinson Beach's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Stinson Beach's figures come from
Stinson Beach's 91st-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 Stinson Beach's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.