Stratford, CA
Stratford, CA's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Stratford lands at the 71st percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 442 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Stratford at the 72nd national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Stratford's buildings actually sit
Stratford rates 84.2% Minimal exposure against just 15.8% Direct and 0% Indirect — of 442 buildings counted, few sit close enough to burnable vegetation for USFS to flag them individually.
How Stratford compares
Inside California, Stratford sits at just the 28th percentile even though it scores 71st nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Stratford ranks 9,292 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 18,412 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,132 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
Stratford 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 71st-percentile score like Stratford's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Stratford
With 84.2% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Stratford gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Stratford's figures come from
Stratford's 71st-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 Stratford's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.