Taft Mosswood, CA
Taft Mosswood wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Taft Mosswood lands at the 54th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 582 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Taft Mosswood at the 57th percentile, close to its 54th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Taft Mosswood's buildings (72.9% of 582) 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.
Taft Mosswood against the rest of the country
Taft Mosswood ranks lower within California (14th percentile statewide) than its 54th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Taft Mosswood ranks 14,425 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 16,074 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,357 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
Taft Mosswood 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 54th-percentile score like Taft Mosswood's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
What would actually reduce this score
With 72.9% of buildings rated Minimal exposure, Taft Mosswood gets less benefit from structure hardening than a Direct- or Indirect-dominant place would — the home-hardening guide explains why the zone matters.
Where Taft Mosswood's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Taft Mosswood's 14,425-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Taft Mosswood's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.